Annie Cresta's Story
by Blitzk
Summary: "I didn't consider myself to be anything more than ordinary. And sometimes, I considered myself to be less than ordinary. But eventually I learned how special I really was." Annie's story with a hijacked ending. Title will probably change at some point
1. I Prologue

**A/N: I enjoyed writing a story for Johanna so much that I want to do one for Annie now. However, unlike the story I wrote for Johanna, this one will deal with more than her Hunger Games. Her Hunger Games is not the complete focus of the story. This chapter is mainly background on Annie's life. I'm not sure if I'll make any changes to canon events yet, but we'll see (I really did not like Mockingjay, so anything during that book is completely up in the air for me). The story doesn't really get going until the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: In case you weren't already aware, I don't own the Hunger Games.**

_I've decided that reflection is the best way to come to terms with my emotions. My life hasn't always turned out the way I wanted it to, and sometimes it's been difficult to deal with everything that's happened. But I think this will help. I'm going to document my story, show how I got where I am, and hopefully come to terms with everything that's happened. I need this. I need closure. So, I'm going to start at the beginning:_

As a child, I didn't consider myself to be anything more than ordinary. And sometimes, I considered myself to be less than ordinary. I didn't feel like I possessed any positive trait that made me stand out, I just had a bunch of quirks. Whenever I got scared, I hid and closed my eyes. If there was a loud noise or if someone was saying something mean to me, I covered my ears and closed my eyes. I was socially awkward. I wasn't very comfortable around strangers. I was shy and I didn't make friends very easily, so I usually just didn't try to make friends. Some people considered me an outcast, but I liked the term "loner" better. I didn't really have friends, but that was partially my choice.

My parents were pretty important people in District Four, my dad was considered one of the best fishermen ever and my mom owned a successful bait store. I had two older brothers and an older sister. My oldest brother, Alan, was 25, and was turning out to be just as good a fisherman as my father was. My other brother, Andrew, was 23, and was probably one of the smartest people District Four had ever seen. And my older sister Allie, who was 19, was basically a carbon copy of my mother: smart, witty, friendly, popular, beautiful...So as if I didn't already feel ordinary enough, my family was always there to make sure I never felt too special. Not that they tried to belittle me or anything, they were all just special. Something I wasn't.

Later, people told me that I was special in different ways, but at the time, I couldn't see it. I spent a lot of my time outside, usually swimming. My parents were on the wealthier side and we had our own little lake outside of our house that I spent a lot of time in. I was a pretty good swimmer; if I had to name the most special quality I had, I'd probably say swimming. When I wasn't swimming, I was admiring the nature around the lake: the flowers, the trees, the animals, and everything else. I kept a journal of everything I found back there. I had drawings, and I wrote down descriptions and possible uses. It kept me busy. There wasn't always much to do in District Four.

Alan was already starting out as a fisherman and was probably going to do that for the rest of his life. Andrew was working on a study to increase fishing productivity and was probably going to get hired by the mayor to help improve the district. Allie was probably going to take over the bait store after my mom retired. Allie and I already worked at the store, but I didn't want to keep doing that for the rest of my life. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I was seventeen and finished with school, but I was basically just taking the days as they came. Allie, the only one in my family I was particularly close to, had tried to help me figure out what I wanted to do. But her efforts, while well-intended, didn't get anywhere. And like my mother, she eventually gave up on me.

My father already had two perfect sons and my mother had the perfect daughter, so they didn't really notice me. In fact, sometimes they just seemed to disregard me. I didn't see my dad very much and I only saw my mom as often as I did because I worked at her store, but we hardly ever talked aside from when she was giving me a job to do. I didn't really see my brothers either. Alan never really seemed to want to get to know me and Andrew was always away working on some sort of project. To Andrew's credit, when he was around he was nice to me and took an interest in me. But like I said, he wasn't around much. The only member of my family I established a connection with was my sister Allie. Allie had been my only friend as a child, and while she wasn't always around with me (she had her own friends), she seemed to at least enjoy being with me and actually seemed to care about what happened to me. That's why she had been the only one to try to help me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. She had eventually given up, but it was mostly because I was being incredibly difficult. I didn't like a single one of the possibilities she had outlined for me. But that wasn't her fault. To most other people, half of the options she gave me would've been more than acceptable. But for some reason, despite the fact that I was utterly ordinary, I didn't want to do anything ordinary. And all of Allie's options seemed a bit boring to me. Of course, that was because there were only about ten different jobs to be had in District Twelve because of our specialized economy.

Just because I was ordinary doesn't mean I wanted to live an ordinary life. I didn't want to keep being ordinary. I wanted to be special like my siblings. But I was probably going to have to resign to my fate sooner or later. I didn't have any unique abilities, so I wasn't going to be able to do anything new and exciting like Andrew. So I was probably just going to have to keep working at the bait store. Despite the fact that I wanted to be special, I really couldn't help it if I wasn't. And I was beginning to think that maybe being ordinary wasn't such a bad thing. It meant that life wouldn't get hard. When I did see Andrew, he would always talk about all the challenges there were in whatever project he happened to be working on. And my mom was always complaining about how hard it was to run a business. I wouldn't have to deal with any of that the way my life was turning out. And I was a bit glad for it. I wasn't very good under pressure. I didn't want to have to face any challenges. But life seemed to have other plans...

**A/N: What did you think? This chapter was just some background, but hopefully it wasn't too boring. Warning, I did not edit this. Sorry for any mistakes. Please review!**


	2. II Hook, Line, and Sinker

**A/N: Okay, I'm really excited about this story now. I've got so much planned out for the rest of the story and I'm looking forward to writing it. Thanks to amethystaquamarine34azure for your continued supply of reviews. They're all greatly appreciated :).**

**Oh, two more things: this story will be much more stretched out than my Johanna story, and I've decided that I'll change stuff towards the end.**

"Annie!" someone in the distance shouted. The sun loomed over my head and my eyes were shut, I didn't want to move. "Annie! Come on! Get ready for work!" came the voice again, which I identified with my sister Allie. The water beneath my skin felt nice. I'd spent most of the morning just floating out in the middle of the lake behind my house and I really did not feel like moving.

I grumbled a bit as she shouted out to me again. "Don't make me take the canoe out there and get you!" she threatened. Andrew had built a canoe for fun back when he was a teenager and we'd used it to paddle out onto the lake ever since. Of course, I preferred swimming over canoeing, so I didn't use the canoe that much when I went out to the lake (which was fairly often).

"Annie!" Allie shouted again, although this time it sounded more like a plea. "Fine," I thought to myself, before allowing myself to sink into the water. The feel of the water swelling over my body and my face brought me back to life. I began treading water and opened my eyes. Allie was standing on the shore next to the canoe waving her arms at me. Sighing quietly to myself, I began to swim back to shore.

Allie had curly blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and was slightly taller than normal. She was wearing the uniform for my mom's store: a shiny gold shirt with a navy blue jacket over it, and pitch black pants. It was all a bit flashy for me, and whenever my mother wasn't around, I didn't wear it. Sometimes she would come back to the store and yell at me when she saw I wasn't wearing my uniform, but I'd rather get yelled at occasionally than always wear the uniform. I didn't even look that good in it, so I never saw what the big deal was. Allie looked good in the uniform, but Allie looked good in everything.

"Hurry up and change," she said when I got to the shore, "Our shift starts in a few minutes. I'm heading down to the shop now. Don't take too long changing." And then she took off. I went inside my house (elegant and two stories, my parents are pretty wealthy) and upstairs to my room. I quickly put on a brown skirt and a light brown shirt before drying my hair. Seeing that my shift started in two minutes, I dropped my towel and bolted out of my house. I was a pretty fast runner, but the store was on the other side of town.

District Four was conveniently divided into three sections. The majority of District Four was spotted with lakes and bordered a large sea. All of this land was dedicated to fishing. Aside from the fishing lands, there was only about two square miles of leftover space. 75% of this land went to housing and the rest was the district center, where the mayor's office and all of the shops were. The Victor's Village was also in the district center, as opposed to being in the residential area. My mom's store was called Hook, Line, and Sinker (horribly corny) and was right across from the mayor's house. I ran as fast as I could but I was still a minute or two late. Fortunately, it looked like no one had even started shopping yet. Allie seemed to just be passing time by scrubbing the counter.

The store had a fairly simple layout: two walls with two small racks in the middle of the store, a counter and cash register in the back, and a large storage room way in the back. One wall was lined with various rods, nets, and tridents. The other was lined with a wide assortment of bait and lures. The two racks in the middle was lined with more miscellaneous items: bait that didn't quite have a place on the bait wall, string for fishing rods, parts for the bigger fishing boats, and even a few books that detailed different types of fish.

"Mom's going to be mad if she sees you," muttered Allie without looking up from the counter. I shrugged and signed in on a sheet on the counter. I lied and put down that I arrived on time, what mom didn't know didn't hurt her. "Why don't you just wear the uniform?" Allie asked me, looking up at me. I simply shrugged at her question. "I mean, it's better than that," she scoffed, referring to my outfit, "and you actually look pretty good in the uniform. You can look pretty good when you want to." I smiled lightly. "Did I really look pretty sometimes?" I thought, "I guess my hair is sort of nice...And what's wrong with my outfit?" I looked down at my brown and brown ensemble. Sure, they weren't the most aesthetically pleasing clothes, but they were comfortable and I liked the color brown. "Some more of the square red lures came today, stack them for me, will you?" she said handing me a box. All of the bait and lures had technical names, but it was much easier for Allie and I to remember the items by their physical appearance.

An angry customer burst into the store yelling about a bad fishing rod he had bought and I immediately turned away in fright. Allie walked over and calmed him down while I started to stack the lures Allie had given me. I listened as Allie managed to calm the customer down and come up with a solution to their problem. Allie was so good with all the business stuff. I had just ducked my head, but she had confronted the problem and fixed it. I continued to stack the lures as the customer (now pleased) left the store. This was the perfect example as to why Allie was destined to take over the family store. "Oh, damn, that's right," muttered Allie to herself, remembering something important. "Hey Annie!" Allie called over, "Can you take over at the counter for a few minutes? I forgot about something mom wanted me to do." "Sure," I said reluctantly. I didn't like working the counter; there was a lot more room for error. I greatly preferred sorting lures. "Hopefully she won't take too long," I said to myself."

A few minutes passed and Allie still hadn't come out of the back room yet. Fortunately, we hadn't had another customer yet, but I was getting a bit antsy. "Hurry up, Allie,"

I muttered to myself. Just then, the bell on the door rang and I looked up in fright. A customer. But not just any customer. This customer was Finnick Odair. The District Four Victor that everybody in the world wanted. Personally, I never saw the appeal. He seemed so arrogant and egotistical sometimes. Sure, he was good looking. More than good actually. But I didn't think he had a heart. He seemed to make a lot of his decisions with a different part of his body. Still, I didn't want to make myself look like too much of a fool. Did I mention I'm horrible when I put pressure on myself? "Hey," he said. But before I could say anything, Allie came rushing in and took over. "Thank you" I breathed inaudibly. I went back to stacking the lures and noticed that Allie seemed to be bending over backwards in an effort to impress him. Finnick seemed to be flirting back with her, as far as I could tell. "We just got a new shipment in today. Hang on, I'll get them from the back," said Allie before winking at him and disappearing into the back.

As soon as Allie's figure disappeared into the back, Finnick let out a heavy sigh and rested his arms on the counter. He seemed, sad. Which was odd to me. What could he, Finnick Odair, possibly be sad about? I thought I was imagining it at first but he turned to face me and I saw the pain in his eyes. His face seemed to lighten when he saw me and our states caught. He studied me for a few seconds before flirtatiously saying, "Hey." The boy I had just seen disappeared in an instance. The sad, vulnerable Finnick disappeared once he had seen me, replaced by the ladies man I'd become accustomed to. I liked sad Finnick more. I turned away and went back to stacking but I couldn't help but blush a little. He seemed interested in me. But then again, he seemed interested in everyone. "Got what you wanted!" chirped Allie. "Thanks," said Finnick apathetically. Even though my back was to them, I could feel his gaze on me. "Come back anytime!" Allie squealed as Finnick exited the store. I didn't turn back around until I heard the door shut.

Allie watched the door, smiling. "Dreamy, ain't he?" she breathed. I shrugged and turned around again to put the last of the lures on the shelf. When I finished, I put the empty box away and saw that Allie was looking at me funny, a slight grin on her face. "You know, Finnick seemed to be checking you out." she said. "What!" my mind screamed. "Yeah, he couldn't take his eyes off you once I got back," she continued, "even though you're dressed like that. Maybe he was just marveling at your fashion sense. That seems like a more reasonable explanation. Besides, I thought he seemed to be really interested in me! We ooze chemistry!" "I'm sure that's what everyone he flirts with says," I said under my breath. "What was that?" asked Allie. "Nothing."

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. It was a pretty slow business day. When I got off of work, I went back out onto the lake and floated out there a bit. "What was up with Finnick?" I asked myself, unable to avoid thinking about he situation earlier, "Why did he seem so sad?" After a couple minutes of pondering, I couldn't come up with a very good answer. "Just drop it," I told myself. I relaxed and spent another few hours at the lake, either floating or updating my flora and fauna journal.

I was starting to get bored though. I had filled my entire journal but still had a few hours of sunlight left and I didn't want to go inside. So I decided to shake things up a bit. Normally, I didn't like change, but I didn't exactly have anything better to do. So I decided to mix things up by walking by some of the lakes. A few of the smaller lakes on the outskirts of the fishing area had been hunted in so much that all of the fish had been taken. Some people thought about trying to revitalize the population by bringing in fish from the other lakes, but it was discovered that these small lakes had slightly higher acidity levels that made the water unlivable for fish that weren't adapted to it, so fishing operations on these lakes were simply abandoned. I made my way through the residential area to the lakes and walked around. The area was really pretty, and I began to regret never coming out here before. The wildlife seemed generally undisturbed, so I doubted that anyone else ever came out here.

There were a few plants I hadn't seen before, and I made a mental note to get a new journal soon so I could come back out here and document them. My lake just had a few flowers and different grasses, but this lake had so many flowers, berries, trees, bushes, and...it was just so much! I walked for a bit when I came to a small clearing toward the top of a hill. From the hill, you could just lie back and look out at the lakes. The plain area just below the hill was lined with purple and yellow flowers, and the now setting sun was casting different shades of orange, red, and pink across the sky. The flowers, the perfect temperature, the comfort of the grass underneath me, and the colors of the sky reflected against the lake made one for one of the most surreally perfect moments of my life. "I need to come up here everyday," I thought to myself.

"Damn, I missed it," said someone from behind me, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

**A/N: Hope you liked it. Story didn't move that much, but I promise it'll pick up a bit in the next chapter (and then REALLY pick up in the chapter after that!). Wonder who the mysterious person is? Hint: it's the obvious choice. Some more reviews for this chapter would be nice. And if you review, I'll give you a cookie! Not a real one, though (sorry). A metaphorical cookie. :)**


	3. III Sunsets

**A/N: Thank you amethystaquamarine34azure for reviewing! Metaphorical cookie for you! I've mapped out most of the story and I even named all of the chapters. Warning, this story will be long. Over twice as long as my other two stories combined. I'm in this one for the long haul. Just to be clear, if the story ever switches to italicized font and first person present tense perspective, it's not Annie reflecting. There will eventually be a point when Annie stops writing and the story goes from there. But that's a long way from now. By the way, I love this chapter.**

I pulled myself up into a sitting position when I heard the voice. My breathing hitched and my body froze as I turned my head and saw Finnick Odair looking at me from the top of the hill. "Hey, you're that girl from the store..." said Finnick as he walked towards me. I snapped my head back to face the lakes but I could hear him getting closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him sit down next to me. I pulled my knees into my chest and was doing my best to avoid looking at him, but I felt him studying me. I was bad enough at talking to ordinary people I didn't know, so this could've turned out to be miserable. "What's your name?" he asked. "Annie," I muttered, still not turning to face him. "Annie," he repeated to himself, "That's a nice name." I suspected that he was just saying it to be nice, but it sounded genuine. Finnick sighed and lay back, putting his hands behind his head. "The sunset's really pretty today," he said. I still didn't answer, watching him discreetly out of the corner of my eye.

I was actually less nervous than I normally was around strangers, because I already had and idea of whom he was. And he seemed incredibly self-centered. I didn't like the impression I had gotten from him when he was in the Hunger Games, and I hadn't liked the impression he gave me when he was flirting with my sister. Right now, I wasn't just nervous. I was uncomfortable. I didn't really like Finnick, and I certainly wasn't crushing over him like every other guy in the world. But he was sitting next to me, on a desolate hill, watching the sun set. This would've been any other girl's dream come true, but I kept wishing that he would just leave so I could go back to enjoying solitude.

"Are you just not gonna talk to me?" asked Finnick. I turned my head further away so that I couldn't see him at all. "Yes," I responded in my head. "It's okay," he said sadly, "I don't think I'd want to talk to me either."

I was not expecting back. I turned my head to look at him and saw the sad version of Finnick, the one I had seen briefly at the store that morning. "Why?" I lightly asked. He chuckled a bit, "You really want to know?" I did actually. He sighed and looked up at me. "Well," he said, "I'm a bit of an asshole sometimes." He sighed again and turned to look at the sky. The sun was almost completely gone, and only a few streaks of red colored the sky. "Why am I telling you this..." he said softly. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just curious," I responded, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for pushing an issue that he probably didn't want to delve into. "I'm sorry," I said softly, looking down at the ground. "Don't be," he said, making me look up, "It's certainly not your fault I act the way I do."

There were a few moments of silence before I spoke up, "Why are you still here?" He made a funny face at my question, "What do you mean?" he said with a bit of a chuckle. "I mean," I began, "What are you, Finnick Odair, doing up here on a hill in the middle of nowhere with someone like me?" "Do you not enjoy my company?" he laughed. But when I didn't respond, his face dropped a bit. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked, sounding a bit hurt. I sighed before responding, "Sort of. Not-I mean-it's not anything you've done in the past few minutes," I said shakily, "But I've seen you on TV with Caesar and occasionally around the district, and...I, I just don't like how you act sometimes."

"Why did I just tell him all of that?" I scolded myself mentally, "He probably hates me now. He'll probably get mad at me and leave." I should've felt happy at the idea of him leaving, I wanted him to leave a few minutes ago. But now the idea of him leaving saddened me a little, and I did want him to eventually answer my question as to why he was even here in the first place. But I thought that I had completely messed everything up. He surprised me though, by simply nodding his head sadly in agreement. "I told you I act like an asshole sometimes," he said, looking at the ground. "And I only do it because it seems to be what everybody expects now," he continued, "I acted the way I do during the Hunger Games because it appealed to the crowd and helped me get sponsors. But the Capitol made me keep it up afterwards and when I got home, it's just how everybody expected me to be. I'm not really as proud and self-centered as I act, it's just...everyone just expects me to act that way and I don't want to disappoint them. And I'm here with you because, well, you seem different. You weren't falling over me when I saw you. Hell, you basically tried to avoid talking to me for a bit! And it was nice to finally meet someone who disliked me as much as I do."

That was a mouthful. We both were silent for a few moments, letting his monologue sink in. "You could stop acting like an asshole," I offered warmly. He laughed lightheartedly and looked up at the stars, "Believe me, I've tried. I just don't like disappointing people. And if everyone liked me for me, there wouldn't be a problem." Finnick sighed before adding, "But that isn't the case." There were another few moments of silence before Finnick spoke again, "I actually found this place a couple of years ago. I've come up here to watch the sunset everyday I could since. It's tranquil. You're actually the only other person I've seen out here."

He stopped for a second before asking, "What brought you here?" I looked up at him in response to the question, "I've told you a bit about me. Tell me about you. What brought you here? Who is Annie?" he asked me. I was feeling more comfortable talking to him, so I began, "I don't usually come to this part of the district. I have a lake behind my house that I spend most of my time at. I'm a bit of a loner, but I sort of prefer it that way. I came out here because I was getting a bit bored with the lake and wanted to try something different. So, I came up here. I guess it was just by chance that I found this spot." My sentences were pretty rushed and I really didn't even tell him that much about myself. But he looked at me for a few seconds, as if he was taking it all in. "What about your family?" he asked. I didn't want to talk about my family, but I decided to answer his question, "My dad is Trey Cresta, the famous fisherman, and my mom owns Hook, Line, and Sinker, so my family is pretty well off. I have two older brothers, Alan and Andrew, and an older sister, Allie, you met her at the store." "She was your sister?" he laughed, "You two look nothing alike." I smiled realizing that he probably didn't mean that in a bad way, but since my sister was one of the prettiest people in the district, looking nothing like her wasn't really a good thing in my book. He looked at me expectantly, so I continued, "Alan's almost as good a fisherman as my father was, and Andrew's a genius. He's been working with the mayor on a project that would drastically increase fishing production. And Allie's really good with people. She's set to take over my mom's store and has really good instincts with business stuff." He continued to look at me expectantly, but I wasn't sure what else to say.

After a moment, he spoke up, "And what about you?" "I'm nothing special," I said rather sadly, dropping my head. Finnick looked at me incredulously, "That's not true," he said, "You seem like one of the nicest people ever. You're one of the only people in the world who's ever realized how horrible I act, aside from me. Don't sell yourself short." I couldn't help but blush at that, hoping that the darkness would keep him from seeing my red cheeks. "I just don't really see anything special about me," I said, "Especially compared to my family. I have a bunch of weird quirks too." He smiled at me. "Don't say that," he said, "You're not being fair to yourself. Besides, you're a much better person than I am." I was blushing again. "You just don't know me very well," I countered, "We've only known each other for about ten minutes." "So?" he said, "I can still tell that you're nice. I wouldn't mind getting to know you better either." I think he might've blushed a bit himself after that last part, but I couldn't completely tell because it was so dark. "I would tell you more about me," said Finnick, "But I think the Capitol's basically unearthed everything about me over the past five years." "Not everything," I replied, "I've never seen this side of you before." The slight color in his cheeks came back briefly.

I realized that it was probably pretty late and that Allie might be getting worried (not like my parents would get worried or anything), so I decided that I probably should leave, even though I didn't want to. I stood up and Finnick looked up at me sadly, "Where are you going?" "Home. My sister's probably going to get worried if I'm not home soon."

"Will I get to see you again?" he asked. I nodded and I saw a giant smile spread across his face. "Meet me here tomorrow at sunset?" he asked. "Sure," I said, and somehow his smile grew. I turned and ran home, though I felt some regret when I realized I hadn't actually said goodbye to him. When I got home, Allie asked me where I was, sensing how happy I was. But I rather rudely rushed by her and locked myself in my room. "He was actually really nice," I thought to myself. I went to bed that night thinking about what tomorrow evening would be like.

The next day couldn't go by quick enough. I wasn't completely sure why, but I was really looking forward to watching the sunset with Finnick. I was never very good at analyzing my emotions (_I'm still not, that's one of the reasons I'm writing this_), so I couldn't quite identify what had me so excited. Allie noticed my excitement I think, but she didn't pester me about it.

That evening, I got to the hill about ten minutes before sunset, but Finnick wasn't there. I was almost beginning to think that he wasn't going to show, but after a few minutes I saw him emerge from the brush with a basket. "What's that?" I asked him. "It's a picnic basket" he exclaimed happily. "I haven't eaten dinner yet, so I brought this. Is that okay?" he asked, sounding a bit nervous. "I brought two of everything, so there's some for you if you want. I wasn't sure if you'd eaten already though." He still sounded a bit nervous, and some extra color rushed to his cheeks. I had already eaten dinner, but how I could just say no to the food. Judging by the fact he'd made two of everything, I guessed that he had done that with the intention of giving it to me. Finnick pulled out some of the food and I grabbed a sandwich he had made.

We spent the whole time eating and taking about ourselves. I was still a bit unsure what to tell him when he asked about me, but eventually I started to open up a bit more. I told him about my journal with the plant drawings and about when I was younger. He talked a lot about what he liked to do, and I realized we had quite a few things in common. He started talking about his Hunger Games, but I made him stop. I hated the Hunger Games, and besides, that was the least interesting thing about Finnick to me. That also reminded me, the reaping was next week. "It's weird," Finnick had said, "Usually, the Hunger Games is the only thing people want me to talk about." "Well," I'd responded, "I abhor the Hunger Games. I hate the thought of kids being forced to kill other kids. There are better things to talk about anyway." And that was the last we spoke of it.

When we finished our picnic and the sun disappeared behind the horizon, I left, though I kicked myself once I realized I had once again forgotten to say goodbye. We had agreed to have picnics like that regularly. When I got home, Allie smiled at me. "What?" I asked her, she was looking much more cheerful than usual. "Oh, nothing," she said rather suspiciously. Of course she was lying, but I dismissed it, seeing no need to force it out of her.

I went to bed smiling for the second night in a row, thoughts of Finnick once again occupying my brain.

**A/N: Awwww...she's falling for Finnick. Told you things would pick up a bit. The next chapter's actually a bit of a set up for Chapter Five (which I'm really looking forward to writing) and I think I'll have that up tomorrow. My goal is to post a chapter a day for the next three days. I'll be unhappy with myself if I don't. Please review! I really like this story and especially this chapter so I'd love to get a lot of feedback!**


	4. IV Happy Birthday!

**A/N: Hunger Games are coming up! Only two more chapters and then it's the pre-Game stuff. But these next two chapters are pretty important. Actually this chapter is more of a set up to the next chapter. The next chapter is the big one. I changed the summary and I want to change the title but I can't think of anything good…Suggestions? I might just wait to see how the rest of the story plays out before completely committing to a title.**

It had been a week since Finnick and I had started having picnics during sunset, and I decided that I actually liked him. At least, when he was acting like himself. There were a couple of times when I'd see him getting hit on by a bunch of girls and his personality would turn into the proud, self-righteous one that I couldn't stand. He seemed like a completely different person when he acted like this. But when the girls left he would instantly look annoyed at himself for what he was doing and if he saw me watching him, he'd give me a sad look and shrug.

"Why don't you just stop acting like that?" I had asked him on our most recent picnic, "What's the worst that could happen?" Finnick's body had visibly tensed at my question. "It could be pretty bad. Do you realize what they could do to me?" He had said, looking and sounding a bit scared. "I don't want to act like that. And I guess I could tell you why," he said, "The Capitol, President Snow...I have to act the way I do. I'm extremely popular in the Capitol, and...and, they use me to help them g-get what they want. I can't afford to let my popularity fall, otherwise...it would hurt them, and they'd...they'd hurt me. But they wouldn't just hurt me, they'd punish my family too, and anyone I'd ever cared about. And I can't do that to my friends, I can't do that to my family, I can't do that to you. I just...I just can't...Maybe, one day, they'll find someone more useful than me and I can go back to acting more like myself. But for now...I just can't." His ramble had included a lot, but I did catch that he grouped me as a person he cared about. "I'm sorry," I had murmured. He had looked surprised when I said that. "You don't have anything to be sorry for," he had said, "It's not your fault." "I know," I'd responded, "I just feel bad." He had smiled warmly before saying, "You're really sweet."

That conversation had stuck with me for the rest of the day. The part I probably should've been focusing on was the blackmail being imposed on him by the Capitol, but the part I couldn't forget was the last part, when he had called me sweet. "Why was that such a big deal?" I had asked myself, "I'm sure he says that to everyone." But simply dismissing the memory wasn't making it go away.

Finnick had had to go back to the Capitol to prepare for the Hunger Games. "Don't get reaped," he had said jokingly with a smile. The reaping was the next day and it was the last reaping I'd have to go to. I would actually turn eighteen the day of the reaping. If my birthday had been one day later and I'd have to endure a reaping for another year. But I wasn't too worried. My name was only going to be in the bowl once. My family was wealthy so there was no need to sign up for tesserae like some of the poorer families were forced to do. I felt that the next day would go by as all the other years did. But I missed Finnick. It was weird. I hadn't been expecting to feel so sad about not going up to the hill with him, but I was. This was the first night in a week that I hadn't stayed out late with him.

"Missing Finnick?" my sister said as she galloped over to me. "What?" I asked shocked, "What do you mean by Finnick?" I was so horrible at lying. "What do I mean ?" Allie laughed, "You two have been seeing each other every evening for the past week! Did you honestly think I wouldn't find out?" Allie was staring at me grinning, and it was obvious that even if I could lie well, it wouldn't help me much. "How did you..." I began, but she cut me off, "You seemed really happy when you came home last week, so I followed you out the next day to see where you were going and I saw you and Finnick having a picnic." Allie was giddy with glee, "It was so romantic, a picnic at sunset. Have you two kissed yet?" "What?" I shouted. I hadn't even considered the idea of kissing Finnick. I was just getting to know him better; he was a friend in my eyes. But I could easily see how Allie might've misinterpreted our actions. "No," I said trying to cool down a bit. "Really?" asked Allie surprised, "After a week of dating, you think he would've manned up and made a move by now." "We're not dating!" I practically screamed at her. "That's not what it looked like," teased Allie, "Besides, you should see his face when he's around, he's totally into you." I still couldn't really believe what I was hearing my sister say. "We weren't dating. We're not dating!" my mind screamed. But the last thing she said confused me, "Wait, what?" I asked. "Oh yeah, you should see him when he's with you. His whole face lights up," she said. "How long have you been spying on us?" I asked, a little bit miffed as to how she knew all of this. "Okay, this might sound a bit creepy, but I would watch you guys maybe for ten minutes every night," she said, "But how could I help it? My sister's dating Finnick Odair! Do you realize how awesome this is?" "We're not dating!" I screamed. "Well fine then," Allie said, excusing herself. But before she left the room she turned back and smiled, "Doesn't change the fact that he's so into you." And then she left before I could counter.

I went to room and locked myself in before flopping down onto my bed. For some reason, the idea of me "dating" Finnick was beginning to appeal to me. "Stop it, Annie! You're not like everybody else! You don't like him like that!" one part of my mind screamed. The other part of my mind however, was softly whispering, "But he's incredibly nice when you actually get to know him. All the other girls like him for the wrong reasons; you see who he really is. And Allie said that he's into you! What would be wrong with dating him?" The two voices in my head battled, but a conclusion was never reached. Instead, after a few minutes of internal battles, I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to a seemingly empty house. Not that this was unusual, there were a lot of mornings where I woke up and found everybody had left the house, but it just felt weird. I can't really describe the feeling, I just felt odd about the house being so quiet. But when I went into the kitchen, my entire family popped out and shouted "Surprise!" It took seeing a large cake on the table for me to finally remember that it was my eighteenth birthday. My mom had blonde curly hair similar to Allie's and was wearing a nice black top with white pants. Andrew stood behind her. He had short brown hair, had bright green eyes, and was wearing a suit with a gold tie. Alan and my dad were both standing in a corner and looked nearly identical. Alan had curly black hair and was slightly taller than my dad. My dad had curly black hair too, and they were both wearing the standard District Four work uniform.

Eighteenth birthdays were a big deal in District Four, especially for girls. It was one of the most anticipated days in a girls life, but I didn't really care that much. I remember that my mom had made a huge dinner on Allie's eighteenth birthday and had let her throw a huge party. Allie seemed to have loved it, but I wasn't sure what my parents could possibly have up their sleeves for me. It's not like they knew me that well. Any idea they got probably came from Allie. It was then that I almost yearned for Finnick to be there. "He would probably come up with something good for my birthday," I thought. But Finnick wasn't there and I'm pretty sure he didn't even know it was my birthday.

"We've got a lot planned out for you today!" chirped my mother, who ran over and hugged me awkwardly. "Unfortunately however, the reaping is today, so the celebrations might be cut a little short..." said my mom, "But the rest of the day is going to be great! Here we got you this!" My mom pulled out a new journal from and my eyes lit up. "Thank you mom!" I squealed. I looked over at Allie and she smiled. She was probably the one who knew I needed a new one. Allie was the only one I had even shown my journal to. The cake on the table had light blue frosting, with "Happy Birthday Annie!" written on it in white frosting. This cake, like most cakes made in District Four, was probably a light shade of green because of the seaweed in it. "Well, I'll have to excuse myself. Your father, Alan, and I have to go down to the market and sort out some business, and Andrew has to go to the mayor's office for some important thing that he says is classified." said my mom. "That's because it is!" said Andrew. "Whatever," said my mom, rolling her eyes, "But Allie's got something planned for you." My mom turned to face Allie, "Make sure that you guys come down to the main marketplace by three so we can be ready for the reaping by five." My dad and Alan had somehow already disappeared and my mom immediately left once she had finished talking to Allie. "I'm sorry I can't celebrate with you," said Andrew, "But I really do have an important meeting to be at. Happy Birthday!" And then Andrew was gone, leaving just Allie and I.

"Come on!" said Allie, leading me out of the house. I tried to ask Allie where we going but she just kept running so

I followed her. She led me down by the lakes where Finnick and I met before finally slowing to a walk. "Thank you for the journal by the way," I told her once I had caught my breath. "You're welcome," she said, "But how do you know it was my idea?" "Allie, I haven't shown anyone else the journal," I said, "How did you know I needed a new one?" "I found a cool looking flower and wanted to see if you had anything documented about it," she said, "You did, but then I noticed that it was full and realized you probably needed a new one."

"Why are we out here?" I asked. "Well, I got a bit lost trying to find my way out of here in the dark when I was done watching you and Finnick," she said, "And I found a place I think you might like." Allie led me past the hill where Finnick and I met and down I the shore of one of the lakes. Sticking out of the lake a bit was a small little cape, which was covered in some of the most exotic flowers I had ever seen. I don't think I had seen any of them before. I thanked Allie profusely for showing me this but she stopped me from pulling out my journal. "We still have a little bit more to do," she said.

Then she took me out to another part of the shore and showed me a really large canoe, which she said was mine. "Andrew and I built it for you," she smiled, "Well, actually, it was mostly Andrew, but it was my idea! We thought that if you wanted to check out other sides of the lake or maybe some of the small islands you could take the canoe. And there's enough room for Finnick and a picnic basket." She teased me and I elbowed her in the side, but I couldn't keep myself from blushing a bit.

"We should probably now. I'm sorry we didn't have too much time, but you did wake up really late today." said Allie. She was right. I had slept in until 1:30. Allie led me back into the main part of the district and I thanked her for the two gifts. I would definitely be using the canoe and would spend a lot of time on that small cape documenting all of the plants.

It was turning out to be a pretty good birthday.

It was...

**A/N: Oooh...foreshadowing! Not much happened in this chapter other than some set up for later. But a lot more will happen in the next chapter, I promise! I've got a few tricks up my sleeve...**

**Reviews are loved and very much appreciated!**


	5. V Boom

**A/N: This chapter was hard to write. Something big happens in this chapter and I wasn't sure how to completely describe everything. I've written a lot of action scenes, but I haven't quite written anything like what's written below. I apologize in advance if it's a little confusing. But overall, I do really like this chapter. Hope you like it!**

**Thanks to amethystaquamarine34azure for reviewing!**

Allie and I had walked across the district to the marketplace where I was supposed to meet my mom, dad, and Alan. But when we stepped inside a rumble shook the building for a brief moment.

_I_ _place my pen down and take a few deep breaths. I'm not going to enjoy writing this part..._

The marketplace was a large open building where all of the fishermen took their haul to be packaged and sent off. For people like mom, it was also a good place to advertise and make deals with other fishermen. Any leftover space was used as storage. At the moment, the marketplace was storing several large tanks of methane (which was used to fuel the few motorboats we had). The marketplace was by far the largest building in District Four, and from what I'd heard from Andrew, it was the fourth largest building in all of the districts (behind a packaging facility in District Eleven, a factory in District Three, and a secret building in District Two).

There was some commotion about the rumble and a few men in uniform were frantically shouting orders to each other. I saw a few men in uniform run down to the lower level of the marketplace. The marketplace was one of the most distinct features in District Four, aside from all of the water. It was built out of white marble and had a raised ceiling about a hundred feet high. Two rows of large columns ran along the interior of the marketplace to support the ceiling. The design made it feel like it belonged in the Capitol and Finnick had said that it actually looked like a lot of the Capitol buildings. Andrew said that marketplace had actually existed before the Dark Days and was the only District Four building to survive the war.

Allie knew where my mom would be waiting, so we began walking across the large building to her location. I noticed that a stream of liquid was running across the floor as we walked. Six high-powered air conditioners were suspended along the sides of the marketplace (three on each side) to try to keep the air as cool as possible and to keep the smell of fish from becoming too overwhelming. All six of the air conditioners were enormous and were powered by an untold number of machines that lay beneath the marketplace. I suspected that the men who went down there were trying to fix a problem with one of the machines.

As we got to the far end of the marketplace where my mom normally was, we discovered that she wasn't there. Unable to think of a solution, Allie and I resolved to wait until she came back. The back entrance which we were standing close to was completely closed off due to maintenance. My mom was probably making a business deal with someone. "Why couldn't she have stayed here," I heard Allie mutter angrily under her breath.

All of a sudden, a large explosion rocked the marketplace and a gaping hole appeared underneath one of the center support columns. A bunch of people screamed and ran as the column fell through the hole and crumbled. The column cracked and separated from the ceiling at the top and fell to the side. People scattered as the massive column fell to the side and crashed into the wall, sliding down a bit before finally settling.

"Everybody! Don't panic!" someone shouted through a megaphone, "The structure is still sound despite the fact we've lost a support column. Five columns are enough! However, we do ask that people begin to calmly gather their belongings and evacuate the building." A wave of murmurs ran through the room and I noticed that one of the columns across from the ruined one was slightly damaged from the explosion. Allie grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd so we could get out of the building. Most people were taking their time gathering their items though. Some were even disregarding the evacuation order, continuing to work on packaging their fish.

Allie and I reached the center of the marketplace where most of the damage was and I took a good look at the scene. Some small pieces of machinery had been blown up onto the main level and I could hear someone talking about a mechanical failure and something overheating. The explosion had caused some small fires but those were currently being out. One of the pieces of machinery that had been scattered had a few hot wires dangerously poking out of it. A man walking by with several crates of fish brushed his ankle against the wire and hissed in pain. He uttered a few expletives and kicked the thing angrily before containing on. I watched as the piece of machinery rolled across the floor and landed on the stream of liquid I had seen earlier. By this point I had stopped walking but Allie hadn't noticed, so she kept walking. When the wires hit the liquid, it produced a spark which erupted into a small flame. The flame spread rapidly down the stream of liquid and I followed the stream with my eyes to see where it was coming from. I gaped in horror when I saw the source of the stream: the huge tanks of methane near the entrance.

"Allie!" I screamed. She was probably thirty feet in front of me when she turned back to see what was wrong. But by then, the flame had reached the methane and a deafening "Boom!" rocked the entire marketplace. The explosion had so much force that it made me stagger backwards and completely decimated the two nearest support columns. Immediately, the front of the marketplace began to cave in and people screamed in terror. People were shouting out names and running and I felt a few people accidentally hit me as they ran by.

"Annie!" I heard Allie shout. I looked around frantically and eventfully found her scanning the crowd frantically. "Allie!" I shouted. Her eyes darted toward me and I could see the fright in them, although she relaxed a bit when she saw me. She ran over to me and shouted, "We have to get out of here!" Even though she was shouting it was hard for me to hear her. The two front support columns were in the process of collapsing and piece of the ceiling were beginning to fall, crushing people underneath them. Three of the air conditioners had fallen and the other center column was starting to crumble. Allie and I both ran towards the back of the marketplace as it began to crumble around us. Screams of pain and terror echoed through the building as large chunks of marble fell from above. The second center support column crumbled and began to fall. "Look out!" someone nearby shouted. I turned around saw that the support column was falling and was close to crashing down on us. Allie saw it too and we both darted away as it crushed the area where we just were. But now, looking around, I had no idea where she was. "Allie!" I shouted in fear.

"This isn't happening! This isn't happening!" I told myself. But it was, and adrenaline was beginning to take over. The entire front of the marketplace had collapsed and I didn't even want to imagine how many people had either died or were trapped. But I had to focus on getting out. The area above me was collapsing and I ran towards the back where two support columns still stood. I was hoping that maybe the back of the marketplace wouldn't collapse. But that's when I saw that the support column that had nearly crushed Allie and I had also fallen into one of the back columns. The back one was breaking, but it hadn't been completely broken yet. I needed I get out soon. One of the air conditioners fell and landed near me, causing me to jump back and shout in fright. I looked up and saw that the ceiling above me was beginning to cave in. I took off in a sprint as I heard chunks of marble land behind me. I weaved my way through stacks of crates and barrels of fish, pushing past anyone and anything that was in my way. I hadn't felt so much fear in my life. I could hear the screams of people behind me as the whole building continued to collapse. A chunk of ceiling landed in front of me, making me stop in my tracks. I looked around at where I was and saw that I was at the back of the marketplace and was almost at the back entrance. There was a group of people trying to break the barricade it down but the entrance was sealed off tightly. "Hang on, I'm going to get you out," I heard a familiar voice say. I turned and saw my brother Alan trying to help a man out from under a piece of rubble. I began to run towards him when another part of the ceiling fell down on them, crushing the man and my brother. "No!" I screamed. I heard more cracking above me and saw that more pieces were falling down. I ran and narrowly avoided suffering the same fate as my brother. Tears began to run down my face as I ran blindly through what was left of the marketplace. Only the back of the building still stood and I was trying my best to avoid being crushed by falling ceiling chunks. I heard a large cracking sound and turned to see the damaged support column falling. The falling column crashed into the other column, which also began to fall due to the impact. The other column fell and slammed against the wall, with the weight of the other column still on it. The rest of the building was beginning to fall in and I ran to the corner where the last column had stood. I got to the base of the column and looked around in fright. Another chunk of the ceiling fell and I had to move to avoid it. The falling column had crashed through the wall and left the rest of the marketplace with no support. The wall had begun to crumble where the column had hit it and I saw that it left an opening. I ran as fast as I could towards but realized that the lack of a wall was causing the ceiling above it to fall. I sprinted as fast as I could toward the opening as the marble ceiling began to fall. Sprinting as fast as I could, I burst through the opening as the ceiling crashed down behind me.

I fell to the ground and quivered as tears streamed down my face. My body completely tensed up and I whimpered a little as I recalled what had just happened. "Annie? Annie!" I heard someone shout. I looked up and saw Andrew, still in his suit, running towards me. He helped me to my feet and for the first time I saw the complete damage. What had once been the fourth largest building in the Panem districts was now a large pile of rock. People were moving across the pile, pulling up pieces of marble in an attempt to find survivors. Almost the entire town had gathered around and most of them were crying. Injured survivors were being tended to and anyone who had made it out was embracing their family. "Annie. Are you hurt? Let me know if you're hurt." Andrew instructed. Like Allie, Andrew was really good under pressure, he always stayed as calm and level-headed as possible, and this was no exception. I shook my head slowly as I continued to take in the scene. "The entire building collapsed..." my mind was still trying to accept what had just happened. "Allie..." I muttered. "Allie," Andrew repeated, "Do you know what happened to her? What about any of the others." A bit of fear was beginning to creep into his voice. "Allie and I...got separated," I croaked, barely able to force the words out of my mouth. I was still completely overcome by terror and shock. "And everybody else?" Andrew pressed. I turned and looked at Andrew, more tears pouring down my face. "Alan's dead," I whimpered. His face fell and even more tears fell down my face.

"Attention District Four citizens!" came the voice of someone who wasn't the mayor (usually the mayor is the only person who makes announcements like this), "Although I empathize with the current devastation you seem to be facing, the reaping will still commence at its scheduled time. Anyone between the ages of 12 and 18 who isn't present in the town square in fifteen minutes will face the standard punishment for anyone who skips the reaping." There was a chorus of complaints and protests from people in the crowd but Andrew grabbed my shoulders and led me away from the marketplace. "I'll be staying back to help look for survivors," Andrew told me, "When the reaping is over, go back to the house so I know for certain where you are. Got it?" I nodded and Andrew wrapped me in a big hug before going running back to the pile of rubble that used to be the marketplace.

I walked somberly towards the town square where the reaping always took place. Most kids between 12 and 18 were most likely in school when the marketplace had collapsed. I signed in and went to my designated spot and the ceremony began. The man who pulled the names was called Byron Millett. The Capitol film was playing but I wasn't focused. My mind was swarmed with thoughts of what had recently transpired. "Please let Allie be alive," I thought over and over again. It had been a complete stroke of luck that I had been able to get out, so I was extremely unsure about everyone else. All of the other kids seemed to be equally distracted. Almost all the kids probably knew at least one person who had been in the marketplace when it had collapsed. Several children were crying and I realized that I still had a few years rolling down my cheek. "What a great birthday today was..." I thought to myself.

"Annie Cresta!" I heard a voice boom.

I snapped out of my trance and looked up to see Byron smiling in front of a microphone stand, a small piece of paper in his hand. Everyone around me backed away and cleared a path for me to walk up on stage. It took a few seconds before I realized what had happened.

I'd been reaped.

**A/N: One character died, and three other characters currently have unknown fates. And Annie's been reaped. And it was Annie's birthday. Worst birthday ever? I think so. I might have another chapter up by the end of the day. But if not, I'll at least have one up tomorrow. Please take the time to review!**


	6. VI Don't Give Up

**A/N: I filled the quota I set for myself. Yay! I posted three chapters in three days! I didn't rush this chapter like I did the last one, so it should have fewer mistakes, but I apologize in advance of there are any.**

**I felt like I needed to build on Finnick and Annie's relationship more, so that's what this chapter's primary purpose is. Warning, it might get a little bit fluffy (though it's sort of unavoidable with their relationship).**

**Thanks to amethystaquamarine34azure for reviewing!**

A day earlier, I hadn't even considered the possibly of getting reaped. And now, I was sitting in alone in a room in the mayor's home. I hadn't spoken since Byron announced my name. I had just gone where I was instructed. I sat on the bench still in shock. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. I couldn't react. My body had just gone into overload, too many emotions at once.

My eyes were fixed on the ground in front of me when the doors to my room opened. "Annie..." a sad Andrew breathed. My mind snapped back into reality and fresh tears rolled down my face. He came over to me and wrapped me in a hug. I felt something wet hit my shoulder and I realized he was crying a little bit too. He wiped the tears away with his sleeve and looked at me. "Annie, I-I'm so sorry," he said. I just glanced downward. His suit was a bit torn up, and I realized that he had probably spent all his time scouring the rubble. "Did they find any of them?" I asked, hoping to maybe hear some good news. "They found dad," Andrew said. He looked down sadly, and by the way he said it, I knew what he meant. I started crying again and he pulled me into another hug. We hugged for a few moments when Peacekeepers burst in and pulled Andrew out. After he left, I just sat there and cried.

I was led out to the train with the other tribute from my district, a boy named Nolan. Byron showed us where our rooms were and had us wait in the dining area for the mentors. But as soon as Byron left I went to my cabin and flopped down on the bed. I stared up at the ceiling and reassessed everything that had happened. It was my birthday, the marketplace had collapsed, my dad and my oldest brother were dead, and I had no clue what had happened to my sister and my mom. And then I got reaped, and now I was going to be thrown into an arena with 23 other kids who would all be trying to kill me. In other words, my entire life had just fallen apart, and now my life was going to end.

The door to my room burst open and Finnick was standing there looking at me, mouth agape. "Today was your birthday?" he said, pain evident in his voice. "Mhmm," I murmured. He sat down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder, not knowing what to say. I silently sobbed as he sat next to me. Finnick was watching me and I could see how affected he was by seeing me cry. After a minute or so, I stopped sobbing and he wiped a tear off of my cheek. "Listen, Annie," he said, "I heard about what happened today, and I'm incredibly sorry. But I need you to eventually try to pull yourself together. I care about you, and I want you to win. You can't give up, you hear me? Don't give up."

Although in my mind I knew that I still had little hope and that I wasn't likely to be alive in two weeks, his words comforted me for some reason. Having Finnick next to me soothing me made me feel better, he made me feel safer. He made me momentarily forget that half of my family was dead, that I probably wasn't going to be alive in two weeks. I needed the comfort, I needed the support. So when he stood up, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the bed. He seemed to understand what I wanted and stayed on the bed with me. He didn't let go of my hand either. He stroked my palm with his thumb and the motion calmed me down even more. Thoughts of my horrible recent past and the sure to be horrible near future evaporated. Instead, I concentrated on the moment, the comfort of having Finnick sitting next to me holding my hand. I enjoyed the moment for as long as I could, but without realizing it, I eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, I met my other mentor, Mags. She was a sweet old lady and she smiled widely when she first saw me. "So you're the one Finnick's been talking about all the time," she said, getting a blush from Finnick. Under normal circumstances, that probably would've gotten a blush out of me too. But I still wasn't really in the mood to do anything other than sulk. I met the other tribute too, Nolan. He was my age, had short black hair, blue eyes and a decent build.

Byron led us to our rooms and Nolan and I sat down to have a mentoring session with Finnick and Mags. Nolan asked questions for most of it, and Mags answered all of them. Finnick and I both remained silent.

I was so absorbed in my own misery that I didn't even really take in all of the luxuries that came with living in the Capitol. The only times when I felt any semblance of happiness was when I was with Finnick...

_If only he were with me right now, this would all probably be easier to write. But I suppose that him not being here is the reason why I have to write this. I hope he's okay. I sigh heavily before regaining focus._

...After dinner, he said he wanted to show me something. "Where are we going?" I asked, as he dragged me through hallways in a building I knew nothing about. "You'll see," was all he said in response. Finnick took me to a service elevator and pulled a master key out of his pocket, which he used to activate the elevator. "Where'd you get that?" I asked. "I have me ways," he smirked. We got in the elevator and went all the way to the top. He took me onto the roof as the sun was beginning to go down. "I thought we could watch the sunset," he said nervously, as if waiting for my approval. When I flashed a smile (probably my first of the day), he beamed with happiness and walked with me to the ledge, where we sat and watched the sun slowly descend.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, I heard Finnick take a deep breath before reaching over and grabbing my hand. I felt something in my chest and it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened, my heart fluttered. When I didn't pull my hand away, he intertwined our fingers. In that moment, all my sadness disappeared. It was like it was just me and him, and no one else. It was like nothing else even mattered. "Is this actually happening?" my mind asked. I started to get a bit nervous. Was I actually falling for him? I had never been good at assessing my emotions, and I'd never really had romantic feelings for anyone before. I wasn't completely sure what I was feeling for Finnick. All I knew was that he made me happy. I wasn't sure how someone could have that much of an affect on me after only a week, but he did. We had gotten to know each other so well and I didn't want our time together to end.

But then the sun disappeared from the sky and I remembered where I was. I was on the roof of a building in the Capitol, and in a few days, I was going to be thrown into the Hunger Games, where I was probably going to die. Finnick seemed to sense my uneasiness. "I know that it's scary," he said, "I was scared too, believe it or not, when I went into the arena. But promise me you'll try." He turned and looked at me and I could see water building up in his eyes, "Promise me you'll do everything you'll can to try to win. Promise me that you won't give up. I care about you, a lot. And sometimes, I'm not even sure how it's possible for someone I've known for only a small amount of time to make me feel like this. And honestly, I'm not even sure how to describe how I feel. I don't really have anything to compare it to." He seemed to be describing exactly what I was feeling. "All I know is that I'm happiest when I'm with you, and I don't want you to die," continued Finnick, "You need to promise me to try to stay alive. Promise me you'll do everything you can to win. Promise me that you'll try to come back."

I could see that he was crying a little, and I almost couldn't believe my eyes. The Finnick Odair that the world knew would never cry. But then I realized I wasn't sitting with the Finnick Odair that the world knew. I was sitting with the real Finnick. And he had just poured his feelings out to me, and by the look on his face, I knew he meant every word. And after feeling that odd sensation in my chest again, I knew that I felt the same way too. Even if I couldn't put a name to what I felt, I definitely felt something big. I cared about him too, and I was happiest when I was with him. And I realized that the only way to do that was to win. I had to at least try. So with a new resolve, I looked him in the eyes and said, "I promise."

**A/N: I'll probably have another chapter up by tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest. For the title, I didn't want to have it to have a water theme unless I thought of something really clever. The only title I've been able to come up with has been "More Than Ordinary" but I think I'll wait until I've written more before changing the title. I'll just leave it as it is for now.**

**I haven't written anything that fluffy before, so I hope it wasn't horrible, I think I may have repeated a few ideas and key points but I really wanted to show what Annie was feeling and it was sort of hard for me to explain.**

**As always, reviews are amazing and greatly appreciated!**


	7. VII Training

**A/N: This chapter doesn't have the best title. While the training session does occur in this chapter, there's a bit more. More Annie stress. She's got a lot on her mind. I sort of skip over the tribute parade too. It's not really that important so I just breeze by it.**

**Thanks to amethystaquamarine34azure and alwaysreading25 for reviewing! And thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorites list or to their alerts.**

I hadn't really been able to enjoy the luxuries of the Capitol. My mind was always too distracted. Even at the tribute parade, where I got to wear a really pretty aqua dress, I barely paid attention. Mags had said earlier that the training session was the most important pre-game event, so that's mostly what I thought about. If I wasn't thinking about that, I was thinking about home. But naturally, when the time came to train, I was nervous.

Nolan and I went down the elevator to the training room. Since I had promised Finnick to do everything in my power win, I had resolved to learn as much as I could. Mags had told both Nolan and I to learn as many survival skills as we could, and they was my plan. With any luck, I could win the Hunger Games by being able to stand the environment better than everyone else. I was a bit worried about my competition, however. "Hopefully none of them are too terrible," I thought as the elevator slowed. Finnick, Mags, Byron, Nolan, and I had all watched the footage of each district's reaping, and none of the tributes had looked too scary. But I wasn't going to be able to tell much by the footage. This afternoon was when I was going to learn the most about the tributes.

When we stepped out of the elevator, the Careers were gathered around the two stations closest to the elevator: the knife throwing station and the axe station. A pretty girl with shiny orange hair stood at the axe station. Noticing that Nolan and I had just arrived, she picked up two axes and stepped back so she was thirty feet away from the mannequin target. Smiling nicely at us, she raised her arm and whirled one axe at the target. Stepping forward and spinning, she threw the second axe right after. The first axe hit the target square in the chest, the second one in the forehead. I looked back at the girl and saw that her warm smile had been replaced with an evil smirk. I gulped and quickly walked past the stations the Careers were at. If that girl had been trying to intimidate me, it had certainly worked. She had seemed so nice and normal, but within a split second turned into a killing monster. Nolan followed me over to the fire-starting stations. "Don't let them get to you," he told me. I looked up, surprised that he had said something to be. Looking back, that might've actually been the first time we had spoken to each other. I looked back down at the material in front of me: wood, some grass, pine needles..."They're just trying to intimidate you," said Nolan, breaking my concentration, "She was a Career from District One. Ember, I think. Don't worry, they're not all like that." I smiled a little at his words. They hadn't really helped my uneasiness, but it was nice that he tried.

I wasn't that great at starting a fire, but I managed to get a few small ones going. Nolan and I moved to the knot-tying station, where I did a lot better. Being from District Four, I knew a thing or two about ropes. Nolan was a bit better than me, but I was still better than most of the people there. Food was going to be important in the arena, so I spent a lot of time at the berry station. Nolan eventually moved on without me, but I kept going, trying to memorize as many berries as possible. After an hour or two, I had memorized a lot ad could probably correctly categorize at least fifty different berries. I went over to the trap station and my good knowledge of knots came in handy. My trainer told me that I was a natural and I was able to construct some pretty complex traps. I started by making small traps that I might be able to use to catch food but eventually tried my hand at bigger traps I could use on people.

As I worked on a few traps, I noticed the Careers were doing their best to intimidate everyone. My district occasionally produced Careers, but certainly neither Nolan nor I fell into that category. It was just the tributes from District One and District Two. Finnick and Mags had both advised Nolan and I to not scope out the competition because they might try to psyche us out, but I took a risk and did it anyway. The boy from District One was tall and incredibly built. He had black hair that fell all the way down to his shoulders, dark skin, and a scar on his right cheek. I eventually leaned that his name was Stark. He seemed most comfortable with an axe, a sword, or any device that was heavy and blunt. The girl from District One was Ember, the one who had tried (and succeeded) at intimidating me when Nolan and I got out of the elevator. She was really good at throwing things and had deadly accuracy. The boy from District Two had shiny golden hair, piercing blue eyes, and a perpetual frown. He wasn't the tallest but he made up for it in muscle. I discovered that his name was Glare. He seemed to like using a sword or long-bladed knives. The girl from District Two was named Amalie was tall, slender, and had brown hair that didn't quite reach her shoulders. She was best with a bow and arrow but was really handy with knives too.

It was definitely a mistake to watch the Careers. Every time they struck one of their targets, I couldn't help but think, "That could be me..." It looked painful, the way Stark decapitated a dummy with one swing of a mallet, the way Amalie sent five arrows into a dummy at once, the way Glare sliced up his target with a sword, the way Ember threw an axe into her target. I couldn't stand it anymore, and eventually just went back to working on my traps. But I couldn't concentrate. Because a voice in the back of my head kept telling me, "You can build all the traps you want, but it won't stop Stark from taking your head off with that mallet." I tried to think of the promise I made to Finnick, and it would calm me down for a few moments. But then I would hear the sound of an axe thrown by Ember impacting a target. "That could be me..." I thought, "But they'd make it painful too. They need to put on a good show, and the Careers always kill their victims in the bloodiest ways possible." Even if Finnick wanted me to try to win, would it be worth it to get pretty far only to see me die an excruciating death? I didn't want Finnick to have to deal with watching that. And I didn't want to have go through that. If I were going to die, I'd want it to be quick. "I knew Finnick wanted me to try to win, but that would probably just cause him more heartache were I to get far," I told myself, "If I did get far, he might get his hopes up, only to have them crushed when I died." I sighed heavily and tried not to think too much about my impending doom.

By the end of the training session, I had learned tons of survival skills, but my mood was significantly worse than it had been. The training session had basically wiped out any resolve Finnick had given me the day before. I felt like crap. To make things even worse, Byron felt compelled to inform me that the search parties in District Four had found the body of my mother and that Allie was still missing in the most nonchalant tone ever. My mood was horrible. Finnick seemed to sense that something was wrong when I went back up to our floor. "What's the matter?" he asked me, when Nolan and I got back. "It's nothing," I lied, putting on my best fake smile. When Nolan went to his room, he pressed the matter further. "Please don't lie to me Annie," he said, "I know something's bothering you and I just want to help." He was genuinely concerned for my well being, and the sad look on his face killed me inside. "What would he be like when he was seeing me get slowly butchered by a Career?" I asked myself.

"I'm fine, really Finnick," I lied again, before walking past him. He watched me carefully when we ate dinner, studying me to see if he could tell what was wrong. As soon as I finished, I went to my room and locked myself in. A knock came at the door, "Annie, may I come in?" It was Finnick. "Not right now," I replied. A few seconds of silence passed before I heard his voice again, "Okay. I can tell you're upset about something, but just let me know if you want to talk about it, alright?" And then I heard him walk away.

"I'm going to die," I thought to myself. I had been trying to get used to the idea. "It's inevitable, it's going to happen," my mind told me. I tried to remind myself of the promise I made Finnick, but it wasn't helping. "Finnick didn't realize what he was getting into," I thought, "He's just being overly optimistic. He's getting his hopes up. He's setting himself up for disappointment. And it'll be crushing too, because he'll probably have to watch one of the Careers slowly dismember me." I got up and left my room, needing to move around a little.

I walked over to the massive windows that stretched from the ground to the ceiling which revealed the Capitol skyline. It was dark, and I assumed that everybody else had gone to bed. I sat down next to the window and stared out. "I'm going to die," my mind repeated. I thought about the previous training session, how scary the Careers were, "And it's going to be painful..." The mental image of Stark decapitating his target with a mallet flashed through my mind. I didn't want to die like that. I didn't want Finnick to be forced to watch. I glanced down at the ground outside, our floor about fifty feet high. "Falling to death wouldn't be too painful..." I thought as I opened up the window. The cold wind hit me hard and I had to take a step back. "Finnick wouldn't have to watch, and it would be almost painless," a voice in my head told me, "You just fall for a few seconds, and then there's nothing. It's as simple as that; just take a few steps forward." My breath heavy, I stepped forward so that my toes were hanging over the edge. My outstretched arms held onto the sides and I was staring down at the ground far below. "Just do it. There's less suffering this way." the voice in my head beckoned. I took a deep breath and willed myself to jump...

But the movement never came. My feet stayed glued to the floor. I just couldn't force myself to do it. Realizing what had almost happened; I stepped back and closed the window hurriedly. "I almost killed myself," I thought, shocked that a few moments earlier I had been one movement away from death. I sat down on the ground and pulled my knees to my chest. "What was I thinking?" I thought, "I almost died!" The thought was starting to scare me now. I had been suicidal. I couldn't believe that I had almost done that. My breathing was heavy and my palms were sweaty. I was regretting that thoughts of suicide had even entered my mind. I imagined the thought of Finnick finding me the next morning and the thought brought me to tears. "There really is no good way out of this mess, is there..." I thought, "No matter what happens, I'm probably going to die and someone's going to be in pain because of it."

"Do you really want to try telling me that nothing's wrong," I looked over and saw Finnick looking at me. "How long have you been standing there?" I asked, hoping that he hadn't been there long. "Just a few seconds," he said, walking over and sitting down next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on his shoulder as I continued to cry.

His hold was comforting, and my tears eventually stopped. "Can you tell me what's wrong now?" he asked, his voice caring. "I'm scared," I admitted, using the best word I could think of to describe my feelings. "Of what?" asked Finnick. "This whole situation," I replied, "Because no matter what I do, I'm going to die. There's no getting around that. I actually almost just killed myself because I wanted to just get it all over with! With the situation I'm in...there's no way I came out of it with a happy ending." Finnick had gone pale and tensed when he heard me say I almost killed myself, and he remained like that for a few moments. "I know," Finnick sighed, "I know it's horrible. I know how awful all of this is. But Annie, as long as there's some hope, I want you to fight. Okay?" He looked down at me and I smiled. "Okay," I whispered. "Don't break the promise you made me yesterday," he said, smiling warmly.

After that I felt a bit better. My situation was desperate, but killing myself wouldn't help. Besides, Finnick was right. There was a small chance I could live so why shouldn't I try? There was still some hope. "I probably won't win," I thought, "But there's a chance. There's still some hope."

_I place my pen down and close my journal. There was hope then, and there is hope now. Watching the clock carefully, I wait until midnight before leaving my room. Slinking my way through several hallways, I make my way to the cafeteria. I make sure I'm extra quiet, I can't be seen. When I get to the cafeteria, I see Johanna waiting in the spot we designated as our meeting place earlier that day. "Are you sure we should do this?" she asks, "There's only a small hope that this will succeed." I smile as I remember what I just finished writing, "Don't worry. That's all we need."_

**A/N: Foreshadowing! I would've had this up sooner, but I actually went back and rewrote everything after the training session because I didn't like it. Usually I just publish my first draft. But I didn't like how that turned out so I made it better. I didn't have the bit at the end in my first draft either, so I'm really happy I went back and changed it, because I like the foreshadowing. I'll try to post another chapter within the next two days.**

**I love reviews, so...please review.**


	8. VIII Beetle

**A/N: First, I have to apologize for any typos in the last chapter or any of the previous chapters. I went back and reread part of the last chapter (I had forgotten what I named the female District Two tribute) and caught a typo and got really annoyed with myself. Normally, I'm a stickler when it comes to that kind of stuff. But since I want to get these chapters out as quickly as possible and because I write these on my iPhone, it's hard to not leave a mistake here and there. Hopefully they're not too bothersome. And I cover a lot in this chapter, so hopefully it's not too chaotic either.**

_"Damn," hisses Johanna, "We need a key." Johanna tries to pick the lock again before resigning. "I can get it," I say. "Are you sure?" asks Johanna, surprised by my brashness, "That's not going to be very easy." "I'm going to do it." I say, "and I already know how. We'll meet back here in three days, okay? Then we'll be able to get past this door." Johanna nods, "Got it, let me know if you need any help getting the key." And then she leaves. I go back to my own room, undetected. Although it's still late at night, I can't sleep. I see my journal still out, laying open. Might as well write..._

"We need to figure out how we're going to present you," said Mags, "Every tribute needs some sort of an angle, so we can help you get sponsors. Sponsors will look at your evaluation scores, but you can really win people over in your interview." I had slept in that morning and Nolan had already gotten this talk when he ate breakfast. But now Nolan was in his room and I was getting this talk while I ate breakfast. Mags and Finnick sat across from me with empty plates and Byron had recently excused himself to chat with a few of the Gamemakers. "But we'll talk about this more after the evaluations," continued Mags, "I'm glad you got some extra sleep, it'll help. It just gave us a little less time to talk about your interview. Eat up. You'll need your energy for later." I quickly finished my meal and went to my room, but Finnick followed me. "You okay?" he asked me when we reached the door to my room. He looked like he had wanted to say something else, but hadn't. "Yeah, fine," I said smiling. "I just wanted to make sure. After everything that happened yesterday..." he smiled and turned to leave. "Why are you taking so much interest in me?" I asked him. I knew what I wanted him to say. He turned and looked me in the eyes, "Because you're the nicest, most genuine person I've ever met. And because you don't deserve any of this." My heart fluttered. I was hoping for something like that.

I stepped into my room and closed the door. "Did you do it?" I heard Mags ask on the other side. He must've just walked over. "No," I heard Finnick say sadly, "I chickened out," "Finnick Odair," Mags chuckled, "for someone so brave to be so nervous..." "It's hard," Finnick defended, "This is different, I haven't done something like this before." Mags stopped chuckling. "I know, dear," she said, "But unless you want to live the rest of your life with regret, you'll do it." "I-I just..." he stuttered, "I don't want to get a bad response. It could have negative consequences." I could tell that Mags was shaking her head in playful disapproval, "Finnick, there'll be more negative consequences if you don't do it. I've known you for several years, and I've seen how this has been affecting you. Trust me, it'll eat you alive if you don't do it. Just give yourself some courage, it'll take less than thirty seconds. You can do it." There were a few seconds of silence before Mags spoke again, "You could do it right now..." "No!" Finnick quickly said, "I-I, I need to...I'll do it later." Finnick sighed, "I think you might be right, though." "I am right!" proclaimed Mags. I heard Finnick walk away and Mags sigh, "Emotions shouldn't have to be this complicated."

The sudden knock on my door startled me and caused me to jump back in fright. "Annie? You and Nolan should be ready to go to your evaluations in ten minutes, okay?" Mags said. "Okay," I said.

Nolan and I waited as the male District Three tribute underwent his evaluation. I was next. I assumed that all of the Careers had gotten amazing scores. I could even hear the Gamemakers applaud when Glare, Ember, Stark, and Amalie had finished. During Stark's evaluation, I could actually hear the sound of him smashing a mallet against a target. The door to the evaluation room opened and a mechanical voice spoke, "Annie Cresta, District Four." I gulped and stood up. "No Annie, go in confident," I thought to myself, "Look like you're capable." I took a deep breath and walked through the door.

"This might actually be our finest batch of Careers ever!" a Gamemaker squawked. "Oh, you say that every year," said another one. "But I'm serious this time! That District Two boy and the District One girl? They're scary." "I do admit that an all-Career finale this year would be pretty amazing to watch." They hadn't really noticed my entrance. A few looked over at me, but most of them kept talking about the Careers.

I started by doing what I was best at, building traps. I built the most complicated one I could remember from the previous day. It was one big enough and strong enough to trap a human. It took me a few minutes but I got it built, and when I tested it, it worked exactly like it was supposed to. I beamed with delight and looked to see the reaction. Even fewer Gamemakers were watching me now. Most of them were still talking casually. I turned away and scowled. "How are they supposed to evaluate me if they don't even watch?" I asked myself. I went over to the berry station and stared at the wide array of berries they had set out. I picked all the berries I could remember being safe and laid them out. I had been able recognize fifteen different ones. One by one, I ate them, pausing for a few seconds between each bite to see if there were any negative side affects. Fortunately, all of my selections had been safe. I was even happier. I had succeeded at both trap building and identifying berries. Even if the Gamemakers continued to ignore me, at least I knew I was partially prepared for the arena. I went to the fire starting station and was able to get a pretty good one going after a few minutes. When I finished with the fire, I was fairly pleased with myself. Not even looking to see if anyone was still watching me, I excused myself.

Walking back to the elevator, several men in fancy suits passed me, heading the other way. Normally, I wouldn't have paid any attention. But one of the men immediately caught my attention and made me do a double-take. "Andrew?" my jaw fell when my brain finally comprehended who one of the men passing me was. "Annie!" Andrew said in shock, stopping to talk to me. He pulled me into a big hug. "What are you doing here?" I asked as he released me from his grip. Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic to see him. I just wanted to know what he was doing in the Capitol. "I-It's for a project," he said. It sounded like he was lying, but I couldn't quite tell so I didn't call him out on it. "Andrew! Hurry up! We can't be late!" a suited man down the hall yelled. Andrew pulled me into another hug before whispering, "I love you Annie." And then he was running down the hall to catch up with everybody else. I tried to ignore the odd feeling in my stomach as I took the elevator up my floor.

"How did it go?" Finnick asked me as soon as I got back. "I think it went well," I smiled, "I built a really complex trap and didn't well on all of the survival stuff." "That's great!" Finnick beamed. Nolan entered the room and Mags went over to him to talk about his evaluation. "Can I talk to you about something?" Finnick asked. "Sure. What is it?" I replied. "In private," he clarified. "Oh, sure," I said, a little confused. Finnick led me away from Mags and Nolan, although I saw Mags smile lightly when she saw Finnick and I leaving.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I questioned when were away from Mags and Nolan. "I-It's...It's umm..." he said shakily. He ran his hands through and was avoiding eye contact. "What do you think of me?" he said suddenly. I looked at him questioningly and he clarified. "I mean...I-I...never mind. Do you think I'm mean? Conceited? You said you didn't like how I acted around other people and I've noticed it more too now and, I don't like it either. Does that make me a bad person?" I could tell that that wasn't what was actually bothering him and that the question was more of a cover up than anything, but I felt bad regardless. "No..." I said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Finnick, you're one of the nicest people I know. And you have to act like that or the Capitol will get mad. Finnick, we went over this." He looked up at me sadly, "You're the _nicest_ person I know." It came back, that pang in my heart. "Don't let yourself do this," my mind scolded, "Don't let yourself fall for him." He looked me in the eyes and his face was suddenly unreadable. I could feel my previous resolve deteriorating. And then he kissed me. My brain completely shut down at the feel and my heart went into overdrive. But almost as soon as it began, it ended. He suddenly pulled away but I still couldn't respond. It was just too much emotion to comprehend. My whole body had been overloaded. But then he turned and left.

It took me a few seconds to regain control of my body. Only then did I process what had happened. "So that's what he was really nervous about..." my mind concluded. "But then he left... "He's having second thoughts," my mind immediately said, "It was a mistake and he knows it. That's why he left." I whirled around and walked back to the elevator, but the only one still there was Nolan, who had a confused look on his face. "What just happened?" he asked, "Finnick ran through here and Mags went...Hey! Where are you going?" I walked right by him and hurried to my room without even acknowledging a thing he said. I locked myself in and lay down on my bed. I just stared at the ceiling. I didn't cry, I just lay there, not even thinking.

Mags had gotten me to come out to watch the scores given out. After that, I'd have to go get ready for the interviews. The interviews weren't normally the same day as the evaluations, but they were this year. Nolan and Byron were on the couch waiting. Finnick was nowhere to be seen. Mags could tell I was sad and was trying to cheer me up. But I ignored pretty much everything she said. I ignored everything everyone said until Caesar's voice began to announce the scores. "From District One, Glare, with a score of...ten. And Ember, with a score of...ten. From District Two, Stark, with a score of...ten. And Amalie, with a score of...ten. From District Three, Lyle, with a score of...six. And Greta, with a score of...four. From District Four, Nolan, with a score of...six. And Annie, with a score of...five. From District Five, Mott, with a score of...seven. And Nina, with a score of...five. From District Six, Dillon, with a score of...four. And Daria, with a score of...seven. From District Seven, Zane, with a score of...eight. And Keira, with a score of...three. From District Eight, Heath, with a score of...five. And Polly, with a score of...four. From District Nine, Myles, with a score of...four. And Cassie, with a score of...two. From District Ten, Denton, with a score of...four. And Maori, with a score of...four. From District Eleven, Sal, with a score of...three. And Sage, with a score of...two. And from District Twelve, Lido, with a score of...three. And Farrah, with a score of...two."

That brightened my mood considerably. A five would keep sponsors from writing me off and would give me a shot at some if I had a good interview. Mags, Nolan, and I were celebrating our scores when Byron said, "So Annie, when were going to tell me your brother was a Gamemaker?" The room went quiet but Byron sipped more champagne, not realizing he had just revealed something shocking. "What?" he asked looking at us. "Didn't you all know?" I didn't even wait for anyone to say anything. I just got up, and went to my room. "Annie, wait," I heard Mags call as I closed the door. Oddly, the news that my brother was going to play a hand in orchestrating my likely death wasn't terribly devastating. I was getting used to having horrible things happen to me.

Mags knocked on my door. "Go away," I pleaded. "I wish I could, I know you need some alone time," sympathized Mags, "but we need to get you ready for the interviews." I sighed heavily and pulled myself out of bed.

"Where's Finnick?" I asked Mags. I had been dressed in a royal blue dress with an orange belt that contrasted the blue nicely and we were both waiting for Nolan to change. "He's sorting a few things out," replied Mags cryptically, "Why?" "I-It's just..." I began, but I wasn't sure what to tell her. I wasn't sure if she'd understand or sympathize with how I was feeling. "It's not important." Mags saw right through me, "You can tell me you know. I'm your mentor. It's my job to guide you." I sighed. "Finnick kissed me," I said. "And..." Mags pressed. "And before I could even react..." I continued, "...he left." The last part sounded extremely sheepish. "Well, do you know how you feel about him?" Mags pressed again. "Why is she so curious?" I asked myself. "I guess I like him..." I began, "But I wasn't letting myself fall for him too hard because of the circumstances. I like him a lot, actually. And then...then he kissed me. But then he left right away and I realized that he thought it was a mistake and that someone like him would never like someone like me and..." I was really rambling now and Mags held out her hand to cut me off. She had a look of understanding on her face, and said, "I'll be right back." And before I could stop her she hurried off down a corridor.

Nolan stepped out of his dressing room in an impressive suit with a lovely tie from District Four. "Where's Mags?" he asked. "Children!" shouted Byron, "Get to the stage! Now! Caesar's already interviewing Amalie! We don't have much time! Hurry up!" Nolan and I turned and ran to the stage as fast as we could.

When we reached the stage, Lyle was almost done with his interview, which meant I was next. "Don't disappoint! Just remind yourself of all the people you need to win over!" said Byron. He always knew just the right thing to say (this statement is laced with the heaviest amount of sarcasm possible). Suddenly there was applause and I heard my name being introduced to the audience. "Well, go on," ushered Byron.

I stepped onstage and slowly walked toward the center where Caesar was waiting. But as I was about to take another step forward, I jumped back and screamed. Caesar rushed over to me, concern painted on his face. "What's the matter?" he asked, maintaining his professional demeanor. I pointed to the beetle on the stage that I came close to stepping on. "Oh, why that's just a beetle," smiled Caesar, "Don't worry, I'll kill it for you." "No!" I shouted, pushing him out of the way. I picked up the beetle and placed him safely offstage. Laughter came from the audience and Caesar had a confused look on his face. "Why did you scream then?" he questioned me. "Because I was about to step on it, and I don't like killing things," I explained simply, "not even bugs." A few "Awww's" came from the audience and Caesar smiled. "Annie Cresta, the girl who wouldn't harm a bug," he said, "Unfortunately, that may not be very helpful in the arena. Let's get to the interview, shall we?" Caesar and I both sat down and he adjusted so he was comfortable before beginning. "So, Annie, you faced a bit of emotional stress on the day of the reaping. Apparently, the marketplace collapsed, while you were inside it I might add. You yourself were able to escape, but both your mother and your father were killed as well as one of your brothers. And your sister still hasn't been found." A rush of murmurs ran through the crowd at the news, people in the audience looked like they felt bad for me. "Yeah, well..." I began, "I'd actually prefer not to talk about if that's alright." I looked out into the first row and saw a lady looking at me. She looked absolutely heartbroken and has been crying so hard that her makeup had been smeared all across her face. "It was my 18th birthday, too" I added. The lady in the first row broke down even more and I could hear others in the audience sobbing. "And 18th birthdays are a big deal in District Four," Caesar noted sympathetically, "This has been a great chat Annie, but unfortunately we're running a little behind and we're going to have to end our interview with that." He smiled at me and I smiled lightly back. As I walked offstage, I could still hear people in the audience sobbing. "Poor girl! She doesn't deserve any of this!" I heard someone wail. "If only they knew about Andrew...and Finnick," I thought.

I walked offstage and Mags had returned. Byron smiled at me and Nolan walked onstage to begin his interview. "Would you mind following me?" said Mags. It was really more of a command than a question. Mags led me down into a hallway and into a room. But she didn't follow me in. She just closed the door behind me. And then I saw Finnick in the room. I wasn't sure whether to be excited or nervous. I opened my mouth to say something but the words didn't come out. Instead, he walked to me and kissed me again. But this time, he didn't stop. And this time, I kissed back. It was perfect. Everything about the moment just felt so right. But eventually, we both had to stop for air. "Wow..." was all Finnick said. I smiled and he grinned happily in return.

_At the happy memory, I decide I don't want to write any further. The kiss is perfect place to stop. So, I lie down and allow sleep to overtake me._

**A/N: I had to fit a lot into that chapter, so I'm sorry if that felt a bit rushed. I was going to use the beetle thing in an earlier chapter in a different context. But I forgot to put it in and I thought it fit well here. By the way, this is going to forty chapters. I've mapped it out and even named all the chapters (though I did change the name of this one a couple of times). Chapter Ten is titled Let the Games Begin, just to give you an idea of how far away the Hunger Games are.**

**I'd love to get some reviews for this chapter, so please take the time to leave one if you read this.**


	9. IX Three Words

**A/N: I must apologize for not posting sooner. But I sort of got writer's block and then I realized that writing stories on my iPhone was affecting the quality and then I learned that I was getting a laptop…So, yeah. Those aren't great excuses, but those are the ones I've got. But the writing quality should be a bit better now that I'm writing on a laptop. The number of errors will probably drop significantly as well. This is the last chapter before Annie enters the arena.**

**Thanks to Shimafan1548 and mbschwall24 for reviewing!**

**Reviews mean so much to me, you guys don't even know…**

I don't know much about the room. I don't why it had a loveseat. I don't know why the ceiling was purple. I don't know what its purpose was. I don't even remember exactly where the room is. But it is by far my favorite room in all of the Capitol. Because it was that room where I had my first real kiss (I don't count the one from earlier). And it was with Finnick.

I sat on the loveseat next to Finnick, with my head nestled in his shoulder, a perfect fit. He had an arm around me and I practically melted into him. I can't think of a more perfect moment in my life. So much had happened since that morning, but this moment made everything seem alright. In that moment, nothing even mattered; it was just Finnick and I.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. I looked up at him incredulously at the statement. His perfect eyes looked back down at me and it felt like it was the first time I had seen them. I nearly got lost in them but the somber expression that plastered the rest of his face distracted me. "For running out when I kissed you earlier today," he said, "I just got really nervous. It took me so many weeks to build up the courage to kiss you, but then you didn't react right away and I got scared so…I ran." He released a deep sigh as I took the information in.

"I started thinking that you didn't feel the same way and that you'd be mad, or that you wouldn't want to see me again…" I cut him off by pulling his face down to meet mine in a kiss. It was soft, gentle, sweet, and (like all of our kisses) absolutely perfect. To think, all that time he was being just as insecure as I was. It was sort of endearing to know that I had that sort of effect on him.

"That's almost exactly what I thought when you left. That you realized it was a mistake and that you didn't want to talk to me," I told him. "Why wouldn't I want to talk to you? And how could I possibly consider kissing you a mistake?" he asked. "Well, how could you think that I wouldn't want to see you?" I replied, smiling lightly. Finnick chuckled a little, "I guess we're both just pretty stupid then." We both laughed and he kissed me again.

I had completely forgotten how I had tried to keep myself from falling for him. I had completely forgotten about the horrible situation we were both rutted in. I had completely forgotten that it was going to be nearly impossible for us to last, that the odds were most certainly not in our favor.

The door to the room opened slightly and Mags poked her head in, giggling softly at the site of us together. "Awwww," she cooed. Finnick gave her a glare and she giggled again before closing the door, leaving us alone. But the sight of Mags had brought me back to reality. Her presence suddenly reminded me of where I was.

"What's the matter?" asked Finnick, immediately responding to my discomfort. How was he always able to tell when something was wrong? "This might be our last day together," I said sullenly. Finnick looked like he was about to protest until it hit him that I wasn't wrong. His face looked pained for a brief moment but he turned back to me and smiled, "Then I guess we'll just have to make our time left together as memorable as possible." I smiled widely before he pulled me into another kiss. "I may only have a little time left. But at least that remaining time will be happy," I thought as I kissed Finnick back.

"_Finnick is gone." Those three words echo through my head and shatter any piece of mind I might have achieved by writing about one of the happiest moments in my life. And those three words had been plaguing me for the past week as well, disrupting any tranquility I had tried to achieve. I need to get that key…_

"_Hey Annie," I whirled around to see Katniss standing in the doorway. She's smiling, but I can tell that it's just a façade to try to cover up her sadness. She's probably going through all the emotions that I am. "The door was open, so I figured…" she explains. "No, don't worry, it's fine," I say._

"_Can I ask you something?" she asks, sitting down on my bed. I close my journal, "Shoot."_

"_What were you and Johanna doing last night?" The question takes me by surprise. We were so careful._

"_How did you…?" I begin._

"_Don't worry," she says, "No one else saw. I actually snuck out myself. I thought a walk might help me clear my head. But then I saw you two." She stops for a second but I don't respond, so she continues, "You don't have to tell me, I was just curious. Johanna and I are on better terms, but she says that it probably shouldn't be up to her to decide whether or not I know and she got crabby when I tried to press her about it. You know what, never mind. It's not that important. I'm sorry I bothered you." She gets up to leave but I stop her._

"_No, you probably should know. It does concern you. But you can't let anyone else know about this." Katniss nods so I explain the plan Johanna and I had devised. When I finish explaining, Katniss looks at me sternly._

"_Don't even think about not leaving me out of this."_

_After filling Katniss in, I go back to writing._

Finnick came through on his declaration. We stole a bunch of food and took it up to the roof, where we had yet another picnic. We stayed up there for the rest of the night. And when the sun had set, we laid down and stared up at the stars.

"It's beautiful up here," I commented.

"Yeah," Finnick sighed blissfully, "But not as beautiful as the girl next to me."

It was incredibly cheesy, but I still turned a deep shade of red at the flattery. It didn't matter to me if that line had been used a million times before, because I could tell when Finnick said it that he had absolutely meant it.

"Annie?" Finnick asked. He sounded a bit nervous, like he wanted to get something off of his chest.

"Yes?"

"Nothing-it's just…I'm glad we've gotten to spend the night together like this."

That wasn't what he wanted to say and I knew it, but I also knew that saying so wouldn't get him to reveal what he had actually wanted to say. "Yeah, me too," matching the blissful tone he had used earlier.

Unfortunately, the night had to end at some point. Finnick had resolved that I needed to get some sleep and I had conceded. So, reluctantly, we went back down to our rooms. Nolan and Mags were both already asleep when we got back. Finnick had been holding my hand for most of the night, and he didn't let go as we led me to my bed. "Goodnight Annie," he whispered, kissing me on the forehead as I relaxed my head against the pillow. And even as sleep overtook me, I never felt his hand leave mine.

"_Did you tell her?" asks Johanna, who had just materialized in front of my doorway. She looks at me questioningly and I see a bit of anger in her expression. But then again, there's usually at least _some _anger in her expression. "Yeah," I say. "Oh," is her only response._

"_Is that a problem?" I ask, noticing that her facial expression doesn't change._

"_You didn't exactly consult me before making that decision," she says, "And I'm not sure that having three people is a great idea."_

_I roll my eyes. "I'm sorry for not consulting you," I chuckle, recalling that Katniss had said that Johanna thought I should make the decision, "But if you really think that having another Victor who's pretty amazing with a bow and arrow isn't beneficiary to our mission then I'll tell her that she has to stay behind."_

_That shut her up. Johanna gives me a weird half-scowl before turning and leaving._

_Back to my journal…_

"Annie, wake up," I heard as I slowly open my eyes. Looking up, I can see Finnick sitting on my bed, holding my hand. _What a perfect way to wake up_.

I got up and we joined Mags and Nolan to eat breakfast. Byron had left earlier for some undisclosed reason. Mags smiled brightly when she saw the two of us together, but Nolan just looked confused.

After breakfast, Nolan and I had to go down to our stylist to get our gear for the arena. We were each given an aqua blue long sleeve shirt that we were told was flexible yet "incredibly sturdy". The shirts were made of a strange material that I concluded must have been some sort of Capitol-enhanced cotton. It had the same feel but was much stronger. We also got indigo pants that would supposedly help keep our body temperature regulated. "What good would warm legs be if my chest and head were freezing?" I thought as the effects of the pants were explained.

After we got our clothes, we got one last chance to speak with our mentors before we were whisked away to enter the arena.

Mags talked to Nolan and turned him away so that he wasn't facing us so that Finnick and I had at least a little privacy.

We both stared at each for a few moments in silence. What were we supposed to say? What would you say if you only had one last chance to see one of the people you care about most? Finnick opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off by crashing our lips together. Words couldn't match the emotions we expressed in those few seconds, before we had to pull away as Nolan and Mags began to turn back around.

"I love you," whispered Finnick so only I could hear.

I could tell from the tears in his eyes that he meant it with all of his heart. But before I could even smile in response, a few Capitol servants yanked me from the room, leaving so many things unsaid.

Three words. Three words spoken, and four words that needed to be said, were all it took to give me the motivation I needed to win the Hunger Games.

**A/N: Once again, I apologize for taking so long to update! I promise that my next update will be much sooner! Saturday at the latest!**


	10. X Let The Games Begin

**A/N: I'm sorry for posting this a day late, but at least the wait wasn't as long as it was last time. **

The next hour was a blur. After being pulled from the room my mind sort of shut down. I remember being walked onto a ship with all of the other tributes and having something injected to my arm. And eventually I was in a white room with a glass tube in front of me. I only came out of my trance when the glass tube finally opened and I heard the sound of a clock ticking.

"That's right," I reminded myself, "The Hunger Games…"

I slowly began taking steps toward the open glass tube. "This is it," I thought to myself. I turned around and took in my surroundings one last time before stepping into the tube. My breathing hitched when the glass tube suddenly closed again. My panic increased further when the ground beneath me began to rise. I pressed my hands to the glass, hoping that somehow it would stop the movement. My eyes darted around rapidly as the room below me disappeared. I was having a full blown panic attack. I covered my ears and closed my eyes as fear over took me. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breathing, fast and hitched.

The movement of the platform underneath my feet stopped abruptly and I instantly opened my eyes. I took my hands off of my ears and slowly began to absorb my surroundings. The ground around me was reddish-brown dirt. My eyes gazed upwards and I saw this dirt covered the vast majority of the arena. The arena was filled with a variety of steep mountains and gorges and there weren't many plants. Only a few low lying shrubs and bushes. There were a few cactuses every now and then as well. We were in a desert. A horrible, rigid, mountainous desert.

The 24 of us were in a circle a large metal structure that I immediately recognized as the cornucopia. I looked to see who was nearest me and happily discovered that most of the Careers were on the other side of the cornucopia. The area immediately surrounding the cornucopia was flat. But about a hundred feet away from the cornucopia in every direction, the ground suddenly went up at an incredibly steep angle. Anyone wanting to escape the flat center to the safety of the mountains would have to climb out.

"3…2…1…"

I had only noticed the countdown at the last possible moment. Suddenly, a gong ran and people were either sprinting towards the cornucopia or away from it as fast as possible. Fear overtook me again and I froze up. I stood shaking as I watched the Career girl Ember pick up a sword and immediately cut through two other nearby tributes. I watched as the Career girl Amalie found a bow and some arrows and immediately started firing at the tributes trying to escape by climbing up the wall surrounding the cornucopia. And I watched as the Career boy Stark used a pack of food to bash a kids head open.

I heard a loud _umph___come from right in front of me and I swiveled my head to see what it was. A girl, who I recognized as the one from District Three lay on the ground with a sword in her back. I glanced upwards and saw the person standing behind her. Stark. _Uh oh_. My survival instincts finally kicking in, I turned and sprinted towards the wall as fast as I could. I was always pretty fast, and that was certainly helping me out. Stark struggled to keep up with me. He was much bulkier than I was and was also weighed down by the sword and two packs that he had slung over his shoulder.

I reached the wall and rapidly began climbing in an attempt to escape to the rugged mountains on the other side. I was almost to the top of the wall when I placed my hand on a ledge, only to have it crumble underneath the weight, causing me to fall down the wall a few feet. "Damn loose rock!" I thought. Suddenly I heard a loud impact above me and saw Stark's sword stuck in the wall right where my head had been only a few seconds earlier. "Never mind," I thought. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Stark standing about twenty feet away from the wall glowering at me menacingly. He started running toward the wall and I hurriedly began climbing again, using the stuck sword to help boost myself upwards. Just as Stark reached the wall, I was pulling myself over it.

"I'll get you sooner or later!" he shouted angrily, out of sight, "Don't worry…You're time will come! And I'll make sure that I kill you slowly too! Your death is going to be the bloodiest of them all!" He was clearly just mad and was shouting those words because he was angry that I got away, but the words still shook me to the core. Frightened, I slowly picked myself up and began running through the mountainous terrain in front of me.

Fifteen shots from the cannon had rung out after the bloodbath from the cornucopia was finally over. Fifteen! It was and still is one of the bloodiest openings to any Hunger Games ever. That damn wall was probably the main reason so many tributes had bit it so early in the game. I had eventually noticed an enormous gray wall on the very far horizon. At the time, I had no idea what it could possibly be. It had been a few hours of grueling walking over horrible terrain. It was one of the most unpleasant walks ever, but I knew I needed to keep pushing forward.

As I walked, I thought about what Finnick had told me right before I was taken to the arena.

"I love you," he had whispered.

Why did he have to say that? As if being thrown into the Hunger Games wasn't already an emotionally traumatizing experience, I had to figure out what I felt about Finnick. Love? I wasn't sure if I loved him back. Although the first thing I wanted to do when he said that to was "I love you, too," I wasn't sure if that's what I would do now.

I was only eighteen and hadn't had any type of emotions similar to these before. I wasn't even entirely sure what love was. I recalled what my mom had said about love when I was a lot younger:

"_Love is that special feeling you have when you know you want to be with a special person for the rest of your life. You always want to be with that person, and you're not sure what you would do if you didn't have them. That's what love is."_

But was that what I felt about Finnick? Sure, every moment I spent with him was magic, and our first kiss was so blissful that I completely forgot where I was. Sure, I hated being away from Finnick and he's the only person I wanted to have at my side at the moment, but…did that mean I loved him?

The sound of a shrill scream that echoed throughout the arena tore me out of my thoughts. The cannon sounded signaling the death of another tribute, most likely the one that had screamed only moments earlier. I quickly disregarded my thoughts about Finnick. Whatever I felt about him didn't matter right now. I needed to keep moving and eventually find someplace to sleep for the night, because if I ran into any of the Careers, it certainly wasn't going to matter much whether or not I loved Finnick. "I probably won't even make it out of the arena alive, so none of it will matter anyway," I reminded myself. But then I remembered that I had promised Finnick to do my best to win so I recommitted myself to finding a place to sleep for the night.

After a bit of looking, I found a shallow cave at the bottom of a small gorge that would be serviceable for a night.

The Capitol anthem began to play and I looked up into the sky to see who hadn't made it. There had been sixteen deaths that day (!), and I was shocked when I finally made the realization that I had reached the final eight. The faces of the deceased began to appear in the sky. The girl from District Three, Greta, both tributes from District Five, Mott and Nina, both tributes from District Six, Dillon and Daria, the girl from District Seven, Keira, both tributes from District Eight, Heath and Polly, both tributes from District Nine, Myles and Cassie, both tributes from District Ten, Denton and Maori, both tributes from District Eleven, Sal and Sage, and both tributes from District Twelve, Lido and Farrah, had all been killed. So that just left the Careers (Glare, Ember, Stark, and Amalie), Nolan, the boy from District Three (Lyle), the boy from District Seven (Zane), and me.

I took a bit of pride in knowing that I was one of the few people who had been able to escape the massacre at the beginning, even if it was by the skin of my teeth.

**A/N: I'll try to update again as soon as possible. I'm reluctant to give an estimate though, because it probably won't be accurate. Please review! I know that some of the chapters haven't been that great, but I liked this one and would like some feedback for this chapter and for the story as a whole!**


	11. XI Shelter From The Storm

**A/N: I'm listening to "Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan as I write this. :) Such a good song. Even if Bob Dylan can't sing. Thanks to those who added this story to their Favorites or put it on their alerts! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Writing the Hunger Game action is my favorite part.**

As soon as I woke up the next morning, I started walking. I needed to keep moving. Hopefully I'd find some water soon. It had only been a day and I was really noticing the hunger yet, but the dehydration was starting to creep up on me. There weren't many plants around, but as I continued to walk the number of plants began to increase. Unfortunately, most of the plants were just small shrubs or tufts of grass, nothing edible. Every now and then there'd be a cactus though.

The sun was horribly hot and I had to exert more energy to cross the terrain. It was incredibly rocky and the land never stayed flat for more than ten steps. Walking downhill, I let out a small shriek when my foot slid out in front of me after stepping on some loose rock. I fell down and slid down the hill a few feet before coming to a stop. My back hurt and I didn't get up at first. I was too tired, too worn out. As I moved my hands to lift myself up, I felt something wet underneath my right hand. I turned my head and saw that my hand was sitting in a small puddle of water. "Where did that come from?" I thought.

I looked around but couldn't figure out where the water might've originated. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the only things around me were rock, more rock, and a cactus. I got up and slowly walked over to the cactus. Where else could the water possibly have come from? I inspected the cactus for several minutes but couldn't find anything to suggest that it contained water. There was no water on the ground around it and the cactus itself was completely dry. But then I noticed a small hole that had been carefully made about halfway up the cactus. I used my fingers to widen the hole and expose more of the inside of the cactus. The hole still wasn't very big, but I was able to get a pinkie in. Feeling around, I felt something wet. Pulling my pinkie out, I examined and discovered that my finger had a light amount of water on it. There's water in the cactuses! But whoever had made that hole had clearly drained the cactus of its water earlier.

"God dammit Amalie, will you slow down! Not everybody can walk as fast as you do!" hissed a voice that I immediately recognized as Stark's. "Oh shush," snapped Amalie in reply, "Maybe if you would've done more conditioning you'd be prepared for all of the walking!"

I started to panic. They were on the other side of the hill and getting closer. To my right, the ground was covered with large rocks and boulders that eventually turned into a mountain. To my left was a small valley that didn't seem to offer much as far as hiding spots go. So I ran to the rocks on my right. I hurriedly began to climb over the rocks when I saw the brown hair of Amalie pop up on the edge of the hill. Quickly, I ducked into the small space between two of the rocks. There proved to be just enough room for me to crawl, and I moved as far out of sight as I could.

"Do you think anybody's hiding in those rocks?" asked Amalie. "Doubt it," scoffed Stark, "What'd be the purpose of hiding back there?"

"Well, wouldn't that be where you would hide if you heard us from the other side of the hill?" chided Amalie. Stark sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But we better find someone soon! It's been a good twelve hours since I've gotten a kill!"

I heard them climb onto the rocks and begin to slowly search through the cracks to look for people. My breathing began to increase and I closed my eyes in fright as I heard their footsteps continue to grow louder. I tried to keep a handle on my breathing by slapping a hand over my mouth, but the sharp intakes of breath I made through my nose weren't much quieter. Suddenly, a loud noise came from my left and distracted Amalie and Stark. "What the hell was that!" shouted Amalie.

I heard their footsteps begin to recede and I slowly poked my head out from my hiding spot. They had moved across the rocks and both had their backs turned to me. Realizing that this might be my only chance to escape, I crawled out from my hiding spot and raced towards the mountain, hoping to find get out of sight before they noticed. "Hey! There goes a girl!" I heard Amalie shout. _So much for that_.

My skipped a few beats as I felt an arrow fly by right next to my ear. The side of the mountain rose sharply but there were several rocks to climb upwards. I immediately began pulling myself from rock to rock, trying to pull myself as high up as possible. Amalie and Stark reached the base of the mountain and Amalie fired an arrow up at me. The slope evened out a bit and I rolled onto the small area of flat land as the arrow shot by. From this spot, I was guarded from Amalie's arrows, but I was left without an escape route.

"Watch my stuff," I heard Stark command from below. The sound of grunting and heavy breathing told me that it was Stark who was making the climb to come and kill me. I poked my head over the side of my little cliff to see that he was already half way up! Amalie fired another arrow up at me but I rolled out of the arrows path. As he got closer to the top, I scanned my surroundings trying to think of a plan. I spotted a small rock as Stark got one hand on the side of the cliff. I quickly picked it up and slammed it against Stark's hand. He screamed in pain and released his grip on the mountainside, causing him to stumble back down the mountain, all the way down to Amalie.

"I'll fucking kill you!" he shouted angrily from the bottom. I actually smiled a little, proud that I was able to cause him so much pain. "Stark, you're bleeding," said Amalie. My smile grew wider. "Well, no fucking shit Amalie!" he growled, "We'll just wait for her to come down. You can't stay up there forever!" He directed the last part at me and I realized he was right. I couldn't stay up there forever. I needed to find water. I needed to find food.

Stark howled in pain again. "Can you even walk?" asked Amalie, generally concerned over the health of Stark. I couldn't see Stark from my spot (I didn't want peek my head out and get hit by an arrow) so I didn't know the extent of his injuries. "I'm fine!" he shouted, enraged. "No, you're not," replied Amalie, "Come on, let's go back to the cornucopia and get you some medicine."

"No!" defied Stark, "We have to kill her!"

"She can wait! She's nobody. It'll be easy enough to just kill her later. But the longer we wait here for her, the worse you're injuries are going to get."

"Fine," Stark acquiesced. "But this isn't over!" he shouted back up at me, "I'll make sure I give you the most painful death ever if it's the last thing I do!"

I heard the two talk some more but it was inaudible as they began to walk out of earshot. After a few minutes of lying on the cliff, I peered over the edge and saw that the two of them had left. Cautiously, I slowly climbed back down the mountain, keeping my eyes on the hill to make sure they didn't suddenly reappear. As soon as I hit the ground, I sprinted off the rocks and continued down the path I was on earlier. After five minutes of fast running, I finally became sure that I wasn't being followed and allowed myself to catch my breath.

In those five minutes of running, the amount of plants had increased dramatically. There were even a few bushes that grew berries. I examined the berries carefully, and eventually I found some that I recalled were safe to eat. It was only about fifteen berries, but those fifteen berries seemed to rejuvenate me enough to keep walking for the rest of the day, towards the mysterious gray wall that was a perpetual monument on the horizon.

Towards the end of the day, dark clouds began to cover the sky and the wind began to increase dramatically. I eagerly awaited the arrival of rain in hopes of quenching my thirst, but the rain never came. There was wind, lightning, and thunder, but no rain. Gales blew fast enough to move large boulders and it became difficult to walk. The gray wall grew larger and I realized I was getting closer to it.

Trees began to appear and I was growing increasingly curious as to why the amount of foliage went up as I continued to walk.

By the time night fell, I reached the wall. It towered at least a hundred feet high and was taller than any mountain in the arena. I turned around and realized that it must circle the arena, because I could see a line of gray across the skyline on the other side of the arena. Two rocks leaned against the wall and formed a little fort. "Perfect," I thought. I walked to the rocks and found that there was a small opening at the bottom just big enough for me to crawl into. I was the smallest person left, so it was very possible that no one else would be able to fit through that opening. The inside of my newfound shelter was small but serviceable. There was room enough for me to lie down and some extra room leftover in case I ever found food that I needed to store. I decided that I'd start searching for food the next morning, despite the fact that my growling stomach wanted me to search for food right then.

I heard a _clank_ outside of my shelter and peeked through the entrance to see a silver parachute hit the ground. "A gift from a sponsor!" I though ecstatically. I reached through the entrance and grabbed the parachute, pulling the small bucket that was attached inside with it. A piece of paper was taped to the top of the bucket and I read the message on it: "_Stay safe. With Love, Finnick."_ The "With Love" part stirred emotions inside of me but I pushed them down. "Those don't matter right now," I reminded myself as I opened the bucket.

Inside the bucket were several loaves of bread and a small knife. "How on earth did he manage to swing that!" I thought, shocked at the contents of my basket. Then I remembered how popular Finnick was within the Capitol and realized that in reality it probably wasn't _that_ hard for him to have gotten all of this sent to me.

Studying the knife, I got an idea. Crawling out of my shelter into the rainless storm, I gathered as much vine, grass, and leaves as I could. Once I had collected enough material, I began to construct a trap right in front of my fort. That way, if anybody tried to get into my fort, they'd get caught and I'd be able to escape. Once I finished setting the trap, I went back inside my shelter and ate some of the bread.

Then, I made a mistake, I allowed myself to start thinking too much. Maybe it was the stress after a long day of walking, or the result of getting a note from Finnick. All I know is that I started to get really emotional. I thought of how life could've gone, how things could've been if my life had contained at least one iota of normalcy. I could've been at home with Allie, my family still all alive. I could've been in District Four, on the lake behind my house. I could've still met Finnick, and we could've been happily enjoying a nice sunset. But instead, I was in some forsaken desert made by the Capitol. I was facing almost certain death, and my brother Andrew was one of the people who were inadvertently helping to orchestrate it. I was torn from Finnick and was battling my own emotions as to how strongly I cared for him.

I tried to at least look at the positives. Finnick said he loved me. I had food. Andrew at least was alive and Allie very well could be. I had escaped two Careers and had even managed to severely injure one of them. I knew where I could find some berries, and I had shelter from the rainless storm that continued to rage outside. Those thoughts didn't erase my sadness, but they did manage to calm me down and allow me to relax a bit. Still feeling a little lousy, I lay down and watched as the wind caused a tree outside to sway. The sight eventually faded from my vision as I slowly fell asleep.

**A/N: What did you think? Leave a review and let me know! Seriously guys, I'd love to get some reviews for this chapter! So please review!**

**I'll probably have another chapter up in a few days. :)**


	12. XII Nolan

**A/N:** **Sorry for the late update.**

**Thanks so much to Shimafan1548 and Crazyllamapersonlol for reviewing!**

Another day passed without a death.

The Gamemakers had let two whole days go by without a single death, something that was beginning to scare me. One day without deaths was rare. But two days? That was almost unheard of. Sure, maybe the audience was still reeling from the bloodiest opening ever, but they were going to start getting antsy if someone didn't die soon.

I had simply hid in my small rock enclave for as long as I could. Occasionally, I'd sneak out and grab a few berries, but I didn't do anything else. I had everything I needed: food and water from the berries to keep me alive and shelter to protect me from the Careers. I knew that eventually, something was going to happen that would force me to abandon my hideout, but until that happened I wasn't moving.

A sudden _snap_ drew my attention. Somebody had sprung my trap…

I froze, not making a sound. I could hear whoever I had caught thrashing around violently, attempting to escape. But my trap must've been built well because whoever it was didn't seem to be having much luck.

I slowly stretched my arm to grab my knife, scared that even the movement of my arm would make a sound and give my position away. I slowly wrapped my fingers around the handle of the knife and pulled it close to my chest. Should the captor escape and discover me, I'd at least have some protection.

The person let out a loud groan that turned into a scream. "You idiot!" I cursed him mentally, "Screaming doesn't just give your position away, it gives away mine too!"

But from the sound of the scream, I could at least deduce that it was a guy I had captured. And being slightly familiar with Stark's voice, I deduced that it wasn't him either. That left Glare, Nolan, Zane and Lyle. I was hoping that it wasn't Glare.

"But what would I even do if it were Nolan or Lyle?" I asked myself. And I honestly had no idea. "Would I have to kill whoever it was?" I asked myself. I didn't want to have to kill anyone. And even if I did, I'm not sure if I could even bring myself to do it. "At least figure out who it is," I told myself, "Then go from there."

Slowly, I began to crawl my way towards the exit of my shelter. Poking my head out just a little, I could see the top of the person's hair. Whoever it was had dark hair, which meant it wasn't Glare. A quick burst of relief swept through me. Craning my neck, I got a glimpse of the rest of his face and I immediately figured out who it was that I had caught. It was Nolan.

My breath began to quicken and I pulled my head back out of fear that he might hear me. "What do I do!" I asked myself. I might've been able to force myself to kill either Lyle or Zane or someone that I didn't know at all. But Nolan? I had spent the past week with him. He was really nice and didn't deserve this any more than I did. "He had basically given up, though," I realized, "He wasn't even attempting to escape anymore. He was practically just waiting to be killed. If I could just give myself a little bit of strength, close my eyes and…"

I took a deep breath before coming to a conclusion, I had to do it.

Taking a few deep breaths, I closed my eyes and pulled myself out of my hiding spot. His eyes widened when he saw me and any resolve I had built up instantly crumbled. How could I bring myself kill and innocent child? I wasn't one of those people who could just shut out all emotion and force myself to kill someone as if the act was as simple as mincing onions. People weren't onions!

His eyes caught the small knife I was holding and he closed his eyes in resignation, in understanding. He knew what I had to do and I knew what I had to do, but I wasn't sure if I could do it. My palms were sweaty and I realized that I was trembling.

On impulse, I made a decision and acted on it. Swiftly, I raised the knife and swung.

There was an awful cutting sound, a gasp, and a hard thud.

I allowed myself to look down and I saw Nolan staring up at me, stunned. He looked up quickly and seemed to connect the dots when he saw the cut at the top of what was my trap. Regaining his senses, he quickly jumped up to his feet and the abruptness and swiftness of the motion caused me to take a step backward in fright.

We were both breathing heavily and he locked eyes with me, like he was trying to search for answers in my expression. "Why?" I heard him breathe, almost inaudibly. The question seemed like more of a spoken thought than a question directed to me. He looked down at the ground quickly before looking up again. "Why?" This time it was definitely a question. But I didn't have an answer. I had no idea what possessed me to cut my trap and to set him free. It was just and impulse, a result of heavy adrenaline that clouded my thinking and caused me to make an abrupt decision.

_To this day, I still don't completely know why I did it._

"Well…" he said after I didn't answer, "…Thank you."

We stood there for a few more moments in silence. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head, him wondering why I set him free, why I wouldn't say anything, why he himself was still just standing there. He must've figured out the last one, because he finally began to walk backwards. When he hit the cover of a few trees, he turned and ran. And then he was out of sight.

I set up another trap in front of my hideout before crawling back into my shelter, relaxing after that surge of adrenaline and emotion.

The Gamemakers probably weren't very happy with my decision to deprive the audience of a death, because they began to toss out all sorts of natural anomalies. One of the rainless thunderstorms (wouldn't want to make it too easy for us to get water…) began not thirty minutes after Nolan ran off, and the Gamemakers decided that earthquakes would only make the arena more fun.

Yep, earthquakes.

But these earthquakes were different. They happened in different places and the shockwaves didn't spread. Somehow, they were concentrated so that they only affected one area. I was picking berries when the first one hit. The ground began to cave in at random places and shook uncontrollably. It was a struggle to keep balance but I took off running to my shelter. Just when the earthquake was getting worse, I passed an invisible line and the ground was back to normal. When I turned around, I could see the circle that the earthquake encompassed. These earthquakes occurred every so often but they never happened near the wall, so as long as I was in my shelter I was safe from them.

The earthquakes and rainless thunderstorms eventually worked though. Just as I began to think that a third day would pass without a death, the cannon fired. It's worth noting that immediately after the death, the rainless thunderstorms and earthquakes came to a halt. Later that night, when the Capitol anthem, I looked up into the sky to see that Lyle, the boy from District Three had been the victim of increased meddling by the Gamemakers.

The next morning, I realized I needed berries. So I made up my mind that I should head out while it was still early. I crawled out of my shelter and went to a nearby spot where I had been getting my berries. I had just started picking when I heard a nearby twig snap.

"God damn it Ember, do you want to give away our position?" Stark hissed.

"Calm down," snapped Ember loudly, the volume of her words meant to piss Stark off.

"I guess I know why Glare wanted to hunt with Amalie," Stark mumbled.

I cowered behind my bush, not daring to move a muscle.

"We better find someone," groaned Stark, "This is beginning to get embarrassing."

"How so?" asked Ember.

"We've only killed one since the cornucopia bloodbath!"

"Not true, Glare killed that kid yesterday."

"Yeah, but he was already mortally wounded. Without help from the Gamemakers, we wouldn't have anybody!"

"It's not our fault we got hosed with the shittiest terrain ever."

"If those other three could get across it, we can too. And if you're tired of hiking across the terrain, then that's all the more reason for us to hurry up and kill the others."

They were getting closer, and the only cover I had was the small bush in front of me. There was a large boulder nearby, and without even thinking I sprinted to it and ducked behind it. They had been facing away from me, so I was hoping…

"What was that?" asked Stark.

"What are you talking about?" questioned Ember.

"I think I saw someone running."

"Are you sure you're not just paranoid?"

"I'm not!" snapped Stark, "I'm going to go check it out."

"Crap!" I thought, "He's walking over here, what do I do now? If I run he'll see me and if I stay he'll find me!"

Then I heard a noise from behind me. I could hear Stark's footsteps stop. "What was that!" he shouted.

"I don't know!" yelled Ember, "But it came from over there." I could hear Stark's footsteps again but instead of getting louder they began to get quieter.

"_Pssst…" _

I turned my head and saw Nolan looking at me from a nearby tree. "Follow me."

If I hadn't been so scared, I probably would have thought about running off with him a little more than I did. But when he hopped out of the tree and started running through the light foliage, I followed without reluctance.

I followed him down a path that quickly got us out of sight of the Careers, a path I hadn't seen before. When we were away, we both fell to the ground to catch our breaths.

"How did you…?" I asked.

"I threw a rock to draw their attention away from you," he answered before I had even finished my question.

"So does this mean…?"

"Allies?" he cut me off.

I considered the proposal for a second before answering, "Deal."

We were both walking towards his shelter and we were explaining how we had survived. He had run away from the cornucopia immediately and had gotten over the wall before the Careers had grabbed their weapons. That was one thing I learned about Nolan, he was fast. It was evident in his walk. He took long strides and his feet never seemed to get tired. I'd explained how I'd stood on my platform like an idiot before barely escaping the cornucopia with my life and I'd told him about my brief encounter with Stark and Amalie, and how I'd managed to injure Stark.

"Nice!" he congratulated, "I noticed that he was walking with a slight limp. So those rocks you popped out of when I got trapped, was that your shelter?"

"Yeah," I responded, "I found that place and set up a trap in front of it for protection. It's really only big enough for one person, though."

"Oh, well we'll both fit in my shelter. Though it probably isn't anywhere near as good as yours. I didn't even consider that someone could be in there until you crawled out. And that was a really good trap."

I blushed a little at the compliment. Nolan was really nice, and I was glad that I was in an alliance with him. But then I remembered a question that had been bugging me for a while.

"Why did you help me get away from Stark and Ember?" I asked.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" he answered, "I mean, I was just returning the favor. The better question is why you didn't kill me when you had me trapped. Why _didn't_ you kill me when me when you had me trapped."

I still hadn't really answered that question for myself. "I just couldn't really bring myself to do it," I said. That answer seemed to suffice him, because he didn't question my motives further.

"So how did you get the knife?" he asked next.

I wasn't sure whether I should answer honestly or not. Would it have been bad to give away my connection to Finnick? "Amalie dropped it when she was helping Stark," I lied, "She didn't notice and I took it after they left."

"Nice," replied Nolan, "The Careers aren't doing so well, they can't seem to get their act together."

"Oh?" I said, wanting to learn more about the state of the Career pack.

"Yeah, they've only killed two people since the bloodbath. Granted, there were only nine of us left. And they killed Sage the same day."

"Sage?"

"The girl from District Eleven. I saw her escape the cornucopia too so when I saw her name that night, I knew it was her that they had gotten."

"Oh," I replied in understanding.

"But there's a lot of friction in that group. Stark and Glare keep jockeying for the top position and can't seem to put that aside for the sake of the group. It looked like Stark had secured his place as the leader, but then you injured him. Ember keeps wandering off on her own and keeps provoking Stark and Glare. Amalie's the only one who's been able to hold them all together. Without her, the group would fall to pieces. Even with her it still might."

The news about the Careers was encouraging to say the least.

"I had no clue where Lyle was, but I've run into Zane a few times and have been lucky to escape with my life. He's an animal. Literally. I think he's completely snapped. He's a barbarian. He tried to bludgeon me to death with a log. But luckily, was able to outrun him the two times I encountered him."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked.

"I only know the stuff about Zane because I've encountered him twice. I'll show you how I know about the Careers in a few seconds."

It was then I noticed how high up we were. We had hiked up one of the tallest mountains in the arena and were approaching a small cave. It was obvious as soon as we entered it that this was Nolan's shelter. He had a very modest pile of berries and a bucket of water with a small, sharp and pointed stick next to it.

"I've been getting water from the cactuses and from the berries. You can have some water if you'd like, it's pretty easy to get."

I took him up on his offer and had a few sips, wanting to quench my thirst but not wanting to appear like I was mooching on his supplies.

"Here's how I know about the Careers," he said, guiding me toward the back of the cave. There was a small hole in the wall, and when I looked through it, I saw the cornucopia and the Career camp. "You can't hear what they say, but they make it pretty clear by their body language," he explained. "And when they walk by the mountain, their voices echo and you can hear a lot of their conversations."

"How have they not found this place already?" I asked. It's not like the cave was hard to find.

"They already found it," he explained, "But that's before I started using it. They just haven't bothered to check again."

I only had one more question, "Where did you get the bucket?"

"I stole it from the Career camp," he said simply, "I saw them all leave once and I thought I could quickly run down and steal some of their stuff before they got back. But when I got there they were beginning to come back. The only thing I managed to grab was that bucket and I was lucky to even get that. Amalie nearly put an arrow through my brain when I was climbing out. She's got incredible accuracy."

We continued to talk about our experiences until it got dark. We talked about the strange earthquakes and I told him how they never happened close to the wall. We both had no idea what the purpose of the wall was. There hadn't been a wall like that in any of the previous Hunger Games we could recall. When the Careers regrouped at the cornucopia, we watched them through the window, and I realized that everything Nolan had described to me was true. Glare and Stark were arguing a lot and Ember would throw out a snide comment every so often that made them both scowl at her. Amalie would keep them both calm and she monitored all the weapons to make sure that neither Glare nor Stark snapped and tried to kill the other. I was hoping that Amalie would tragically (hah, not really) die so that Glare and Stark did try to kill the other. Not only would it be beneficial to me, but the audience would probably get a kick out of too which means the Gamemakers wouldn't try to stop it. I didn't have the slightest clue how a three person Career battle would turn out, though. (_I'd find out later…)_

We both split the berries and ate all that was left. Nolan told me that I was the only reason he knew which berries to pick. He'd been spying on me and saw which berries I took. Before, he had just taken lucky guesses. I agreed to teach him more about which berries to eat the next day.

We talked more for about another hour until the Capitol anthem played. I got to learn more about Nolan and he was probably the nicest guy I had ever met. Well, second nicest…

I decided that if I wasn't going to win, I wanted him to win. The last thing I wanted to see was Nolan getting killed, and if it came down it and something out of my control happened, I was hoping that he would at least die quickly and painlessly. He didn't deserve to die in here. _But really, none of us did. And unfortunately, things seemed to be going the exact opposite of how I wanted them to go. And that streak would continue._

**A/N: So, it was late. But at least it was long. And I think it was good. I have no idea when the next update will be though. Sometime in the next week. But my school goes late (we don't get out until the 14th; though my school makes up for it by giving us the entire week of Thanksgiving off) and I have a bunch of stuff to do. I have to study for finals and I have to pack because I'm leaving for Germany next Saturday. Suffice to say, I'll be busy. But I promise I'll find time to update this as soon as I possibly can! **

**Thanks again to anyone who's reviewed, added this to their favorite stories, or put this on their alerts! Hope you guys are enjoying the story!**

**And once again: please review! :)**


	13. XIII Mental Erosion

**A/N: This is one of the more disturbing things I have ever written. You have been warned. Let me know if you think I should change the rating after this.**

**I don't really have anything else to say other than to give a huge thank you to mbschwall24 for reviewing! So without further ado…**

A loud noise quickly pulled me from my sleep. I scanned my surroundings and slowly began to remember where I was. "Hunger Games…arena…mountain…Nolan…cave…" my mind eventually pieced together (_I'm always rather groggy when I first wake up_). "Sunlight…" I observed as a flash of piercing light struck my eyes. I got up and walked to the entrance of the cave to get some fresh air. Nolan was still sleeping peacefully on the ground. I stepped out of the cave and stretched my arms above my head as I yawned.

Then I remembered why I'd even woken up in the first place. What was that noise anyway? Somehow, the Gamemakers must've heard my thoughts because the noise came again. It sounded like…something collapsing. The only thing I could compare the sound to at the time was the sound the marketplace in District Four made when it was collapsing. But I couldn't see any source for this sound. Until my eyes fell upon a nearby mountain, that is. It was an earthquake, but it was so powerful that it was causing the side of the mountain to crumble. Realizing that the sound currently wasn't a threat to me, I relaxed a bit and turned to head back inside the cave.

But then I caught a glimpse of something fiery red out of the corner of my eye…

"Amalie slow down! Not everybody has long legs like you!" shouted Ember, with her instantly recognizable shrillness.

My eyes widened in fear and I ran inside to Nolan, who was still asleep on the ground. "Nolan! Wake up!" I yelled into his ear as I shook him frantically. "They're here! Careers! Not too far away! Wake up!"

Nolan jolted awake and looked at me quizzically. "What's going on?" he asked lazily.

"Careers!"

He went from half asleep to wide awake at those two syllables. He snapped to his feet and didn't even bother to grab any of the supplies before darting out of the cave. My knife was the only thing I deemed necessary to keep, and I already had it tucked securely in my boot. I followed close behind him and he stopped abruptly, realizing that he didn't even know where the Careers were and had no idea where to go.

"Was it a bad idea to stick Stark and Glare together?" we both heard Amalie ask. We turned and could see the tops of their heads on a ledge below.

"No. Either they figure out how to get along and we become a stronger group or one of them kills the other and it's one less person we have to worry about killing in the end," was Ember's bitter response.

"That was rather cynical," commented Amalie.

"It's true. And I think it's a rather optimistic view. Both of my scenarios are wins for us." There was a brief moment of silence. "We should check up at the top," continued Ember.

That was all Nolan and I needed to get us to run across the ledge and quickly begin descending down the other side of the mountain. This side of the mountain was much harder to climb than the other side. It had a rather steep decline and was covered in loose rocks. Nolan and I both slowly tried to slide our way down in an awkward sitting/crab-walk position. Going down wasn't difficult. But keeping ourselves from sliding too fast or creating too much noise was.

My hands were covered in dirt as I strained to keep myself from sliding too quickly. I dug the back of my shoes into the ground when I realized I was picking up speed. We could've both just ran and slid down on our feet but we both knew that although that way was quicker, it would very quickly give away our position. And we both knew that it was better to be fifty feet away from the Careers and have them not know where you are than it was to be fifty yards away from the Careers and have them know where you are.

"Someone was definitely living here…" we could both hear Amalie comment from the top of the mountain. "No shit," chided Ember. "…And they were here recently," continued Amalie, completely ignoring Ember. My heart stopped for a few seconds when she made that observation. "These berries couldn't have been picked more than a day ago."

"Hey! That's our bucket!" shouted Ember, "That guy from District Four must've been living here! He's the one that stole this!" I looked over at Nolan, who looked about as scared as I did. "So where are they now?" queried Amalie. "They can't have gotten too far," replied Ember.

Nolan and I both exchange nervous glances before continuing to slide slowly down the hill, trying even harder to make as little noise as possible. We were almost at the bottom…

"Let's just go back down the way we came and check the nearby areas," suggested Amalie, "They're probably nearby."

Nolan and I exchanged glances again and both breathed a sigh of relief. We'd be long gone by the time they got back down the mountain. "Ok, let's go," Ember agreed.

But then, my left food slid out from under me and I rolled the remaining twenty feet down the mountain. The sound of the tumbling rock and my body rolling and hitting the ground at the base of the mountain seemed to echo. Nolan looked at me, horrified. The air was deathly still. Neither Nolan nor I moved a single muscle but my heart was beating at light-speed as we waited for a reaction. My body began to tremble slightly at the anticipation. Then, Ember's head poked out over the top of the mountain and she bellowed, "FOUND THEM!"

And then the adrenaline kicked in. Nolan stumbled his way down the rest of the mountain and I quickly pulled myself to my feet. Amalie appeared next to Ember and sent some well-aimed arrows at Nolan that just barely missed him before the two began running down the side of the mountain themselves.

Nolan and I both made a beeline for the more heavily forested section of the arena, hoping to lose them amid the rocks and the foliage. At least, I thought Nolan and I were making a beeline in that direction. I was, but as I turned my head, I realized I had no idea where he was. At first, I worried that Amalie had managed to hit him with an arrow, but then I realized that the cannon hadn't fired and at the very least he wasn't dead yet.

Eventually, I lost all awareness of where I was. I was just running. Fear and adrenaline had completely taken all control over my body. I should've been getting tired, but my legs just kept moving. I passed rocks, bushes, trees, and I had no idea where I was, or if I was even being pursued anymore. I only stopped running when the front of my foot hit a rock and I tumbled to the ground. The energy I had lost running so much finally caught up with me and I just lay on the ground for a few minutes, panting. Slowly, I pulled myself back to my feet and brushed the dirt off of my palms and clothes. Looking behind me, I deduced that I had gotten away.

I finally began to continue onward but took a slow walking pace. It was really more of a dirge. I was a pretty good runner, but I wasn't nearly athletic enough to be able to bounce back from a mad dash like that and just walk normally afterwards. But suddenly, a large net came down on me and I found that I wasn't able to move my legs and was only barely able to move my arms. Someone had set a trap, and I had sprung it.

I strained my right arm, trying to reach the knife that was tucked in my right boot. I could reach the top of the boot, but wasn't quite able to reach the handle of the knife. I looked up and let out a small shriek when I looked up to see Zane standing next to me. His outfit was completely black (a decision made by his stylist that he was probably regretting considering the heat) and was torn in several places on his body. His normally spiked black hair was disheveled and his face was smeared with dirt. His left hand was smeared with the blood of an animal and he wore the most evil smirk I'd ever seen. In his right hand, he clutched a small dagger.

He chuckled lightly at the sight of me caught in his trap. "Let's give them a good show, shall we?" he said. Taking another step toward me, he lifted his right foot into the air and kicked me in the rib cage as hard as he could. I screamed in pain, but the sight only seemed to make Zane giddy. I squirmed and tried to move but the trap still clung too tightly. "Awww…You're trying to escape," he cooed mockingly, before bringing his foot down hard on my left shoulder. Something popped and I howled again in agony. Now, any sort of weight on my left arm sent surges of pain.

He slowly circled my body, thinking carefully about what he should do next. His thoughts eventually became spoken. "What should I slice first? Perhaps the Achilles tendon? Or maybe I cut off your hand? Even better, I could go finger by finger! Oooh, or, I could gouge one of your eyes out?" His excitement seemed to grow with each new idea that sprang into his head. Nolan was right, he had gone completely insane.

Zane continued to come up with ideas as he circled me, staring at his knife intently, as if he was picturing the actions as he came up with them. Caught up in his thoughts, he stepped on the side of the netting and accidentally dragged it a few inches as he continued to walk. The extra slack wasn't much, but it was enough that it encouraged to try grabbing my knife again.

"I'll start with your hand!" he finally decided. By the time he had turned back around to face me, my hand was in my boot and was wrapped around the handle of the knife. He got on his knees and forcibly wrestled my hand out, not even realizing what I was holding. As he brought down his knife, I quickly jerked my hand away, his stab going into the ground. Before he could pull his knife out, I used my knife to stab him in the hand. He hissed in pain and trembled as he pulled the knife out of him and tossed it to the side. But I had caused him another problem. His hand was now inside of the netting, and he was having difficulty pulling it out. He screamed expletives as he continued to try to free his blood-stained hand from his own trap.

While he was screaming and thrashing, I took the knife that he had left stuck in the ground and used it to begin sawing away at the trap. By the time he had gotten his hand free, I had created a large hole and was beginning to crawl out of it. I looked up and he locked eyes with me. They were dark and filled with murderous hate and rage. "I'll kill you!" he screamed as he lunged forward, grabbing me by the throat. He easily maneuvered his way on top of me and tightened his grip around my throat. Without even thinking about it, I blindly swung my knife up at him.

I heard a blood-curdling scream come from Zane and felt his weight come off of me. I quickly pulled myself from my feet and staggered away from the scene. The pain in my left arm was so overwhelming that even under the circumstances it was hard for me to run. I turned back and looked at the scene I had caused. The trap laid cut upon, Zane's blood soaking a small section of it. Zane himself was clutching his face and screaming his head off. Then I saw something lying on the ground near him and I realized what I had done. I had cut off his ear.

The sight made me sick to my stomach and I immediately turned and began to stagger away from the scene. I didn't stop walking until Zane's screaming had dissipated, and by that point, the pain in my arm prevented me from taking another step. Tired, I slouched against a tree and slid into a sitting position. My left shoulder hit a part of the tree weirdly and sent a sharp pain through my body, but then I felt a pop and suddenly the pain disappeared. After a few minutes of testing my arm out, the pain had completely disappeared and my left arm was functioning normally.

The day had been horrible so far. Just a quick recap: Nolan and I had gotten attacked by Careers, lost our hiding spot, gotten separated, and I'd nearly been killed by a barbarian. "Can't get too much worse," I thought to myself.

The sudden pressure of a hand on my shoulder caused me to scream and whirl around in fright. "Calm down!" came the voice of Nolan. "Nolan…" I sighed in relief. He saw the state I was in and immediately could tell that something had happened to me.

"Annie, put the knife down," he said calmly. I realized that I still had a death grip on the bloody knife I stole from Zane. I cleaned the blood off on the leaf of a nearby plant and tucked it away in my boot. "What happened to you?" asked Nolan. And I told him. After a few minutes, he knew every graphic detail about my encounter with Zane. "You're lucky to be alive," he commented after I'd finished. "Yeah…" I panted, still slightly out of breath after everything that had happened.

"How did you escape?" I asked. His story was a lot less awful. "Ember and Amalie chased me but I lost them when I slid down into a ravine. I've just been walking since then."

There was a brief moment of silence. "I'm sorry," I uttered.

Nolan looked at me incredulously, "For what?"

"For slipping and giving away our position," I replied sullenly.

"Don't be sorry," he said, "I'm shocked that I didn't slip on that stuff. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. If I hadn't gotten separated from you, you wouldn't have had to deal with Zane."

"But it was _my_ fault we got separated in the first place. If I hadn't given away our position, we wouldn't have had to run away from Ember and Amalie."

His niceness couldn't poke any holes in my logic. It was _my_ fault. "Don't worry about it Annie," he said anyway. "Besides," he continued, "I'm sure that the Capitol absolutely _loved_ it when you cut off Zane's ear."

Nolan's comment made me chuckle. "Good, you're smiling," he said, "Now let's find a new place for shelter."

Nolan and I had been walking around for the past few hours, but we hadn't found anyplace that was nearly as good as our cave. We had stopped twice to eat some berries that I picked and to drink some water that Nolan had been able to draw from a cactus. We were going to just find a hiding place in the rocks or in some low bushes where we could sleep for the night, but I decided that we should look for a little longer.

The sun was just beginning to set when we saw Stark. We were both walking through a small forest area when we heard a brutal impact. Stark was swinging his mallet at nearby trees, anger radiating off of him. Nolan ducked me down in some bushes. "He doesn't see us," Nolan said, "If we just stay here he won't see us and move on."

As much as I trusted Nolan, my instincts were telling me to just make a break for it. If he didn't see us, then what was the problem with running away and making sure that he didn't find us? What if he came over here and did find us hiding, it'd be too late to run then. Nolan was trying to keep me calm and breathing was increasing in frequency and volume. My legs were beginning to fidget, and I readjusted to try to get more comfortable. But when I moved my leg, I accidentally snapped a twig. Stark turned and began scanning the area where we were hiding.

"Shhh…" Nolan whispered, "He still doesn't see us. Don't worry, we'll be fin—" My instincts over and I bolted from behind the bush. "Annie!" Nolan half-whispered half-shouted as he ran after me. I kept running, fear and adrenaline once again taking control of my body. I could hear Nolan behind me, but I could hear more footsteps following too. "Stark!" my mind screamed. Knowing that Stark was following only increased the adrenaline streaming through my body, which increased the franticness of my running. I saw a small hole at the base of a tree that was covered by the overgrowth of some smaller plants. Running low on energy and running out of options, I hid myself in the hole and camouflaged myself with the small plants. I clutched my knees and began to tremble as I played the waiting game.

"Annie!" I heard Nolan call out. I peered out of my hiding spot and saw him standing not too far away from me, panting heavily. I was tempted to climb out and run to him but the appearance of another figure stopped me.

I had to keep myself from screaming when Stark caught Nolan off guard and kicked him in the stomach. Nolan stumbled backward, his breathing staggered. He backed up until his back was up against a tree, and before either he or I could react, Stark swung his mallet and slammed it against Nolan's throat.

Tears poured down my face and I held my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming or vomiting as Stark held the mallet against the space between Nolan's head and shoulders. Blood poured onto the mallet and rolled onto Nolan's body, dripping onto the ground. Nolan's eyes were bugging out, but as the seconds passed, they eventually began to still. His eyes eventually stopped moving all together and I could practically see the life leaving him.

Stark brought back his mallet and Nolan's body fell to the ground in two distinct pieces. The cannon fired, and Stark smiled wickedly as he stared down at Nolan's head. It was truly frightening how thrilled he was after decapitating another person. Suddenly, the smile and disappeared from his face and was replaced with a look of frustration. "Where are you, you stupid little girl!" he bellowed into the sky. He slammed his mallet into the tree I was hiding under angrily. I shook a little in shock and fear at the action, but he didn't notice me.

The tears continued to pour down my face long after Stark left and continued through the night and into the next morning. They kept falling even as I began to walk, in search of my old shelter, painfully aware that I no longer needed to search for a shelter big enough for two. And they even were falling when I found my old shelter the next morning, and when I made sure the trap in front of my shelter was still there and in good condition.

I was so distracted, that I didn't even acknowledge the fact I had made the top six. I was so distracted, that I didn't notice that a few earthquakes had been occurring nearby, much closer to the wall than they normally were. I was so distracted, that I didn't even notice the water beginning to leak from a crack in the gray wall. And I was distracted because I kept going through all the things that I could've done differently. Because it was my fault that Nolan had died. The first time I messed up, it only hurt me. But this time, it killed him. And I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I had led to Nolan's death. I had essentially killed him. And I had never felt guiltier about anything in my life.

**A/N: That wasn't the most enjoyable thing to write, but it was all completely necessary (Nolan had to lose his head at some point). Let me know if you think the violence warrants a rating change. **

**But despite the heavy violence, this was one of my favorite chapters. Please let me know what you think! I'll have another chapter or two up by the end of the week, but then I go to Germany so the frequency of updates after that will vary. Please, please, please review!**


	14. XIV Mental Collapse

**A/N: I could either be studying for my last two finals or I could write another chapter. Since you're reading this, I think you can tell which of those options I chose… **

**Thanks to and Zoey-DeThug for reviewing!**

** : Annie just used the sword stuck in the wall to help her climb over; it's most likely sitting with the rest of the Career's supplies and weapons. Glare might even be using it. Annie didn't take it with her. Sorry if that part was confusing.**

**And for anybody who couldn't tell what happened to Annie's arm in the last chapter, she dislocated her shoulder. I never explicitly stated what happened so I felt like I should clear that up. Let me tell you, dislocating a joint hurts like hell. I dislocated my knee once when my parents weren't home, and I literally lay on the ground for two hours, not being able to place any weight on my leg because of the pain. Thankfully, it popped back into place by accident and the pain went away completely. But still…not an experience I'd like to repeat.**

**That ramble was rather pointless. Anyways, to the story…**

I didn't remember when I fell asleep. One moment, I was crying. The next, I was waking up to the sight of sunlight piercing into my shelter and my water stained outfit. "I cried a lot," I remarked in my head, as I examined my outfit. My shirt was drenched, and even my pants were wet. "There's no way I could've cried that much," I thought.

My eyes began adjusting to the light better, and I could see more of my shelter. Then I realized I was right. I hadn't cried _that_ much, not enough to soak my entire outfit and cover my shelter with an inch of water. I turned and discovered the water's source. A small amount of water was leaking out of the gray wall at the back of my shelter. The amount seemed insignificant, I hadn't even noticed last night. But since my shelter was lower than its surrounding area, the water had built up significantly.

And then I realized that there was water flowing in from the outside too. "There must be a small leak somewhere else than," I thought. This revelation only confused me, though. There was water on the other side of the wall? And what was causing the wall to crack?

Curious, I dipped my hand into the water. I didn't even have to taste it to know that it was salt water. I'd spent so much time in water I sometimes could distinguish the two at just a glance. And in this case, all it took was a touch. Unfortunately, my conclusion meant that the water wasn't safe to drink, meaning I'd have to keep relying on berries and cactuses for hydration.

The sudden snapping noise of my trap being sprung brought me back to reality. Suddenly, the realization of the situation I was in and the events of the night before came back to me and hit me over the head like a bag of bricks. I nearly burst into tears again, but I'd already gone through a year's supply and I could only cry for so long before my body refused to relinquish any more water.

My mind was absolutely scattered, and the memory of what had happened the night before made me completely forget about the fact that my trap had just been sprung. That is, until the person in said trap began thrashing about wildly and screaming.

It took me less than a second to realize who it was: Stark.

I was already beginning to shake, and I slowly moved my trembling hand to my boot as Stark continued to thrash uncontrollably. I was so jittery that I nearly dropped my knife into the water once I had pulled it out, but I retained enough composure to keep a grip on the knife and pull myself out of the shelter.

Stark's eyes were like daggers, and his glance sent a cold chill down my spine. He was shouting at me angrily, furiously. I knew he hated me, and I know now that he was trying to scare me into letting my guard down. But I don't recall a single word that he said. All I could feel was the hatred I felt towards him.

He was evil. He killed mercilessly and without emotion. He didn't feel remorse, or sympathy. He was the anti-me, and I hated almost everything about him. He had decapitated Nolan with a fucking hammer! How was I supposed to feel? I didn't even realize that decapitating someone with a hammer was possible, but now the sight from that night kept repeating in my head.

I'd never felt so heated before. I was slowly letting my emotions take over my body. The anger, frustration, and hatred kept boiling up and I realized that I was close to hitting a breaking point. But I didn't make any attempt to cool myself up. My grip on my knife grew tighter, the mere sight of Stark continuing to build my emotions. His words kept bouncing off of me but I could see the look of absolute evil in his eyes. I didn't need to hear his words. By the look in his eyes, I already knew how much venom they carried.

My trap was extremely well built, but Stark was strong. He was beginning to pull himself out of the trap, but I just continued to stand there, eyes locked with his, fuming. And then, I finally heard him, "You're going to get it! Once I get out of here, I'll be sure to kill you painfully. Just like I killed your little buddy Nolan!"

That was my breaking point. That was what sent me over the edge.

Stark had almost gotten himself out of the trap when I attacked. The look in his eyes changed to one of shock. Shock that I was attacking, shock at my expression, and shock at the realization that he himself might not make it out alive. I remember the brutal sound of a knife piercing human skin, the agonizing sound of Stark's scream, the sheer amount of blood that covered the ground, and the pathetic look of pleading on Stark's face as he realized that he was going to die.

The pleading look made me hate him more; as if he thought that mercy should suddenly be required when he's the one in pain. Why should he be denied the same cruelty that he had dealt to so many others? Stark managed to add being the world's largest hypocrite to the list of horrible things he'd accomplished before the life left his eyes.

I continued to stab him long after he was dead. The powerful emotions that overtook me were impossible to control.

But soon, the hovercraft came and took Stark's body away, leaving me trembling in the fetal position and lying in a pool of Stark's blood with a vice grip on the knife I had just used to kill him. I'd killed him, and it felt so…empowering.

But that was the reason I was trembling in the fetal position. Deep down, I knew I shouldn't be feeling that way. It was wrong to take joy in the brutal killing of another. I had thought of Stark as a hypocrite, but what did that make me? I had hated Stark for killing with joy and without mercy, but what had I just done? I had butchered him, enjoyed it, and even mocked him for thinking that he somehow deserved mercy.

What was I becoming? Stark had pushed me to a breaking point, but killing him pushed me past a completely different, a scarier one.

Although I knew that lying out in the open processing my emotions wasn't a smart move, I couldn't bring myself to do anything else. Suddenly, the importance of staying alive paled in comparison to sorting out the moral dilemma I was facing. Was I going crazy?

The small amount of sanity I still had told me to get back inside my shelter. Using all the strength I could muster, I literally dragged myself into my water filled shelter. I used my knife and began to randomly scratch at the rock. It certainly wasn't a productive use of my time, but it was distracting.

The awful sound of metal against rock allowed me to detach myself from my thoughts, but I couldn't detach myself completely. I couldn't forget about what I had just done, the overflow of emotions I had experienced like never before, the brutal murder I had just committed, and the monster I felt like I was turning into.

I felt evil. I felt like I was worse than Stark. I felt like that my single act of killing was worse than the several killings he had committed. Even if that wasn't true, and even if I came to different conclusions later, at that moment my brain was so overloaded that I couldn't think straight. My brain was literally fried, I couldn't process anything correctly.

I was experiencing a complete sensory overload. I was so overcome with different, conflicting emotions that I eventually couldn't force myself to continue cutting into the rock. Even if I was blowing my feelings out of proportion, it didn't feel like it at the time.

Eventually, I couldn't take it any longer. I let out a long, painful, heart-wrenching scream before falling unconscious.

I woke up later from a lack of oxygen. My head had become completely submerged underwater and my angry lungs had forced me awake. I quickly pulled my head up and gasped for breath, relieving my lungs. My shelter was several inches underwater and I realized that it was probably time to abandon. I pulled myself out of the shelter, going underwater in the process, and tried to think of what to do next.

The overflow of emotions I had experienced from the previous events that day had dissipated after my nap. Instead of a rush of dozens of conflicting emotions overpowering my every thought, there were only two emotions that remained: sadness and guilt.

I felt sad about everything, and guilty about everything. I felt sad about what happened, and I felt guilty because I convinced myself that it was somehow my fault that it had happened. Certain emotions may not make sense in hindsight, but in the moment, they're what you feel. And unless you properly contextualize those emotions, you often times can't move past them. That's what happened to me. I was thinking much clearer than I was earlier, I was focused on my survival and I wasn't scratching at rock, but I wasn't able to get past my sadness and guilt.

I did decide, however, that I would try to put as much of what happened. Mulling over events that had already occurred wasn't going to help me deal with events that were happening now. Despite my emotions, survival had once again returned as my primary objective. I just needed to figure out what my next move was.

"Tributes!" boomed Caesar, "There will be a Feast tomorrow morning at the cornucopia! I strongly recommend that you all attend! You each have the opportunity to obtain an item that you will all desperately need in the very near future…"

I wasn't sure what Caesar meant by "an item that you will all desperately need in the very near future" but I had calculated my next move: staying as far away from the Feast as possible!

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! I wanted to post another chapter in my new story too, but it looks like I won't have time considering I need to study for finals tomorrow as well. Though feel free to check it out! I've only completed a prologue, but I can't wait to add to it! It builds on an idea I came up when writing this story. It's called Revelations. Once again, thanks to anyone who's reviewed this or added to their alerts and favorites. Reviews especially are always greatly appreciated!**


	15. XV Dam, Damn

**A/N: Sorry about the corny chapter name, but you all knew this chapter was coming. **

**Thanks to Zoey-DeThug and mbschwall24 for reviewing! :D**

**mbschwall24: She hasn't forgotten about Finnick. She's just been a bit preoccupied with some other things. He will reenter Annie's thoughts in this chapter, however.**

Not even a minute after Caesar's announcement, a sponsor gift fell from the sky and landed at my feet. I picked it up and examined its contents: some water and a note. I drank the water quickly, not having realized how thirsty I was, before reading the note: "Don't go to the feast, but get higher up."

I already knew better than to go to the Feast, but I had no idea why Finnick wanted me to get to higher ground. As I pondered this, there was an earthquake near I was standing, but the earthquake extended far enough that it was affecting the wall too. I scrambled out of the earthquake zone and turned back to see the wall begin to fracture.

Then the answer to my earlier quandary hit me, rather literally. A section of the wall cracked and a large burst of water hit me in chest, knocking me to the ground. Coughing, I scrambled to get out of the blast before pulling myself up. The water continued to shoot out of the hole in the wall as the fracture continued to go. It was at that point I finally figured out the purpose of the gray wall, it was much more than just a boundary.

I took off running away from the wall and the streaming water towards the center of the arena, where the highest mountains were. I needed to get up there before the entire wall crumbled.

I ran for most of the day, managing to get close to some of the mountains, all the while I could hear the rumbling of more earthquakes shaking the wall that held back untold amounts of water. I ate a few berries that night and drew some water from a cactus before finding a small cave and going to sleep for the night.

The next morning, as soon as I woke up I didn't hesitate to begin walking towards the mountains. To my relief, when I scanned the sky I saw that the wall was still standing tall. The sun was already fairly high in the sky, and I guessed that the Feast had either already begun or was going to begin soon.

Feeling rejuvenated after the several hours of sleep I'd gotten, I took off towards the higher mountains at a fairly quick pace.

Suddenly, as I was running over the top of a hill, Ember bumped into me running the other way. We both fell to the ground and turned around to face each other. She was bleeding out of her shoulder and was clutching a life preserver.

Acting quickly, Ember pulled out a short knife and dived at me, but I rolled out of the way just in time, her knife impacting into the ground. I quickly pulled myself to my feet and began running up the nearest mountain, Ember chasing after me.

As I ran away, I realized how close to the cornucopia I really was. As I got higher, I was eventually able to look into the pit that designated the center of the arena and see the cornucopia. Only one bag was left on the table, mine, which meant that everybody else had managed to grab their bags, but it was clear from Ember's wound that not everyone had escaped unscathed.

I turned around to see that Ember was falling behind. I had longer legs and I wasn't injured, which meant I had a speed advantage. Turning back to face the direction I was running, I nearly ran straight off of a cliff. I skidded to a halt and turned to the right continue my run, but saw Amalie charging at me with an arrow. She must've lost her bow.

She lunged at me but I dodged by leaning to the left, a mistake considering that the cliff was on that side of me. Losing my balance, I fell over the side but managed to grab on to the edge. Amalie probably would've kicked me or stabbed me to make sure I fell, but at that point, Ember had finally caught up and was engaging Amalie.

Amalie tried to stab Ember with her arrow, but Ember dodged and hit the shaft of the arrow so hard with her forearm that it snapped in half. Ember swung her knife across her body, managing to slash Amalie across the chest. But Amalie took a step back and used her flexibility and long legs to kick Ember right in her should wound, eliciting a scream from Ember.

While the two fought, I used my hands to slide myself along the cliff. When I was a good distance away from the two, I pulled myself up and ran down the mountain.

"You!" I heard Zane hiss at me when I reached the bottom. I turned around and saw Zane's running at me, but I didn't have time to run. Before I could even move, he hit me over the head with his life preserver, causing me to lose balance. Before I could react, he hit me again, and again.

My nose was bleeding and Zane looked down at me menacingly before getting on top of me and pressing the life preserver against my neck, slowly choking me. I tried to reach down to my boot to grab my knife but he put his knee down on my arm, sending shockwaves of pain through my body. "Not this time…" he hissed, as he increased the pressure against my neck.

But moving his knee took the weight off of my left leg, which I used to knee him in the crotch. Zane immediately recoiled in pain and I used the opportunity to throw him off of me. I took the knife out of my boot, but before I could attempt to stab Zane, a life preserver was somehow placed around my body, restricting my arms.

Glare had come out of nowhere, and it had been he who had put the life preserver around me. Clutching the life preserver, he threw it (and me with it) at a nearby boulder. I hit my head hard and slumped to the ground as Glare switched his attention to Zane.

Zane lunged at Glare madly, but Glare produced a knife and used the handle butt of it to hit Zane in the side of the head. Zane tried to scramble away, but Glare stepped on his back, trapping him. Zane produced animal-like sounds as he thrashed and attempted to escape, but the pressure from Glare's foot was too strong. Glare took his knife and stabbed Zane in the back of the head, slowly sinking the entire length of the blade into Zane's skull as he convulsed and coughed up blood. Zane eventually stopped moving and the cannon fired. Only then did Glare pull out the knife, the entire blade soaked in crimson.

I was dizzy and my vision was slightly blurry from the impact, but I pulled the life preserver off of me and ran, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Zane. Not having much choice with Glare right behind me, I ran up the same mountain that Ember and Amalie were on. I'd rather face Ember and Amalie who were distracted by each other than a bloodthirsty Glare.

I reached the ledge where I had fallen earlier to see Amalie in Ember still engaged in combat. Abruptly, the ground began to shake and everybody stopped fighting. This was by far the most violent earthquake the Gamemakers had used, and by the looks of it, it was affecting the entire arena. When the earthquake stopped, Amalie and Ember prepared to face off and Glare caught up to us. I was about to keep running when a deafening cracking sound split the air and drew the all of our attentions.

I recognized the type of sound; it was one that I had heard relatively recently: it was the sound of a large structure collapsing. We looked off in the horizon and saw a lower section of the wall crumbling. A wave of water washed through the lightly forested area on the outskirts of the arena, covering all of the trees as the wave made its way towards us.

"Oh damn," Amalie uttered. Ember was the first to react. She ran right past Amalie and reached for a life preserver that was sitting on the ground. "Oh, no you don't!" Amalie yelled," That's mine."

Amalie kicked Ember and grabbed the life preserver for herself. Ember threw her knife at Amalie, striking her in the arm. Amalie howled in pain but she quickly pulled it out and used it to defend herself against a charging Ember.

I turned around to see that Glare had already run back down to the bottom of the mountain to grab the life preserver that I had discarded. Zane's life preserver had been scooped up by the hovercraft when it had come to take his body. There were four of us, but only two life preservers were up for grabs. Glare was in possession of one, and Amalie and Ember were fighting over possession of the other.

Amalie and Ember both had a grip on the life preserver and were in a tug-of-war battle over it, both of them teetering dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Amalie used her superior strength to rip the life preserver out of Ember's grasp, but the sudden release of resistance caused both of them to stumble. Ember recovered first, and she delivered a roundhouse kick to Amalie's side, sending Amalie and the life preserver over the side of the cliff. Amalie's screams echoed throughout the arena until she hit the ground with a _thud._ The cannon sounded, and then there were three of us.

Ember sudden realized that I was still standing there and quickly ran to her discarded knife, picking it up off of the ground. She threw it at me but I leaned to the side and it sailed past my shoulder. I reached sown to my boot to draw my knife, but I reconsidered and decided it'd be smarter to run. I turned on my heel, and began to run up the mountain, trying to get up as high as possible. Glare had just gotten back to where we were, and he and Ember engaged in a short battle.

I took cover behind a small tree a good twenty feet above them and took the opportunity to catch my breath. I looked out on the horizon to see even larger sections of the damn crumbling. Water had made its way to the center of the arena and had completely filled the cornucopia area, but more was rushing in. Pretty soon, it was going to matter how high I climbed, the water was going to drown the entire arena.

Ember had chosen to disengage Glare by diving off of the cliff, a calculated move on her part. Unlike Amalie, Ember was able to dive into water instead of solid ground. Ember reappeared from underwater and began to swim to another nearby mountain as the water level continued to rise.

Then I remembered Glare. I swiveled my head and saw approaching from the other side of the short tree. Water was rushing in so quickly that it had now covered the ledge that he and Ember had just fought on, and a new surge was coming in. Glare tried to throw a small knife at me, but I dodged and it stuck in the tree. Glare then produced a knife with a long blade and swung at me as he stepped closer, but I ducked and ran further up the mountain, with him in pursuit.

I stumbled over a rock and fell to the ground, with Glare only a few feet behind me. He laughed at my mistake and used his foot to roll me over onto my back so I was staring up at him. He had an evil glint in his eye as he raised the knife above his head. But then, the most recent surge of water hit us. I was completely submerged under it and swept away, but the top of the surge had been where Glare's head was, and the fast moving current had swept up a large boulder that smashed into Glare's head when the surge hit.

Being a good swimmer, I quickly surfaced to see Glare's head leaking blood. That was the last time I saw him before his body slipped underwater. There was no way he was going to be able to surface given the severity of his head injury. I swam to the small island that was once the peak of a large mountain and was able to give my muscles a rest for a minute or so before another surge came in and effectively drowned all the land in the arena.

The cannon fired to signal Glare's death, but that still left Ember. Ember was floating a good thirty feet. She locked eyes with me but hissed in pain when a wave of water hit her and splashed into her shoulder wound. The salt stung, Ember bit down on her bottom lip to keep from screaming.

Once the pain passed, Ember turned her focus back to me and began swimming over. I knew I was a faster swimmer than her, but I wanted to give my muscles as much time to rest as possible. She turned out to be quicker than I thought, however. Because when I began to swim away, she had caught up to me and grabbed my foot.

I used my free foot and kicked her in the face, getting her to release me. Then, I dived underwater, hoping that the effects of the salt water on her shoulder would prevent her from following me under. Another advantage I held over her was that I could probably hold my breath longer.

I forced myself to open my eyes. The salt stung, but I quickly got over it. Continuing to dive deeper, I looked over my shoulder and was surprised to see that Ember was actually following me. She was clearly in pain, but she was forcing herself to go after me. She probably realized that I would outlast her if we just tread water, and that killing me herself was her only shot at winning.

I dived down to the small tree that I had hid behind earlier when I remembered about the knife Glare threw earlier. It was still stuck in the tree! As Ember caught up, I frantically tried to dislodge the knife from the tree, but it wouldn't budge. I continued to pull harder and eventually it began to come loose

Ember caught up to me and grabbed my shoulder just as I managed to get the knife free. I was still doing fine holding my breath but I noticed that Ember was beginning to struggle. Ember grabbed the side of my head with her hand and slammed my head into the tree. But I took her hand from the side of my head and drove the knife into it. The knife went straight through her hand and stuck into the tree. She screamed in pain but it didn't resonate very well underwater.

Beginning to feel the effects of oxygen deprivation myself, I quickly swam to the surface. My lungs were beginning to burn when I finally reached the surface. The knife had proved a challenge for me to get out of the tree, so hopefully it'd be hard for her too. She'd probably get it out eventually, but I was hoping that her lungs would give out by then.

I waited on the surface of the water for several seconds anxiously, scanning the water below me for any sign of Ember. But after thirty seconds, I realized that there was no way she could still be alive. My assumption was confirmed when the cannon fired, signaling the death of the twenty-third tribute. The water began to drain from the arena, and I found myself standing on the peak of the mountain as the water continued to recede.

Ember's body had mysteriously disappeared, but I could see the spot in the tree below where I had stabbed.

A sudden wave of emotions overtook me as I realized what had just occurred. I had just killed my second person. I'd seen numerous people get killed. I outlasted twenty-three other tributes. I won the Hunger Games. I sat down on the ground and began to cry, not even sure which emotion was the cause of my tears. I suppose it was probably a mix of all of them.

I won the Hunger Games. I could go home, back to District Four. I would get to see Finnick again. I smiled widely at the last thought as Caesar's voice bellowed: "The Victor of the 70th Hunger Games…Annie Cresta!"

A smile remained plastered on my face as a hovercraft appeared and slowly began to descend over me.

**A/N: What did you think of the grand finale to the Hunger Games? Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**

**I'm proud of myself. I updated **_**both**_** of my stories today! Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to update either this story or Revelations for another few days. I leave for Germany tomorrow (well, today since it's technically morning now) and while I'll be able to write, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post. So, I apologize for the brief upcoming hiatus. But at least you have a conclusion to the Hunger Games!**

**Please review! :D**


	16. XVI Am I Crazy?

**A/N: Sorry for the rather late update. Being on vacation in a foreign country kind of delays my writing.**

**Thanks to Zoey-DeThug and Madi for reviewing!**

At first I feel proud. I feel proud at what I'd just accomplished. I (me!) was somehow a Victor. I had won the 70th Hunger Games.

Then I felt happy. I was going to get to go home! I was going to be able to leave the Capitol! I would get to see Finnick again…

Happy thoughts of getting to be with Finnick filled my head for another few minutes.

Then I remembered what awaited me back home. I didn't know if I loved Finnick and he might be upset if I didn't have a response, my parents and one of my brother's was dead, I still didn't know if my sister was dead or alive, and I would probably never be able to forget any of the terrible things that happened in the arena.

Then I began recollecting events from the arena and I felt sad. Frantically climbing up a mountain to avoid being killed by Stark or Amalie, running away from Ember and Amalie after falling down the mountain, getting trapped and nearly getting killed by Zane, cutting Zane's ear off, watching Nolan get decapitated with a hammer, and worst of all, brutally stabbing Stark.

I was getting jittery and scared at the memories when a more important question popped into my head: _Where the hell am I?_

I was in a really confused and dazed state, but I finally began taking notice of the area around me. I was in a dark room, and I must have passed out at some point after I won.

A large door opened, shining piercing beams of light into the room. Surprisingly, it was the Head Gamemaker, Voltaire Wallace, who stepped into the room. I had never met him personally, and I was only able to recognize him from the brief clips of him I'd seen on TV in previous years.

He was a burly man with raven hair that was slicked back with copious amounts of gel. He wore a purple suit that was a little bit too small for him and walked with a narrow black cane which was obviously just for show since he had no noticeable leg injuries.

"Congratulations Annie!" he yelled as he walked towards me. He seemed to notice the odd expression I was wearing (grief, sadness, anger, and confusion) but acted as if he hadn't. "I must say, you were quite the underdog this year!" he continued, "Very few of the betters had you winning, and any of them that did in the beginning are walking away rich right now!"

He grabbed my arm and led me out of the room towards the light outside. "You were just put in here so you could rest up a bit. The few injuries you sustained were all quickly patched up by the doctors," Voltaire said, "Except for your head." Only then did I notice that my head was wrapped. "You sustained a concussion when Glare threw you into the rock," Voltaire quickly explained, "All of the doctors were amazed how well you were able to swim underwater despite that." I blushed a little at the compliment.

We were almost at the door. "Ready to greet your thousands of fans?" Voltaire asked, a smile creeping onto his face. He led me out of the door and outside onto the porch of one of the Capitol's government buildings. The streets surrounding me were filled with people who all erupted into applause at the sight of me.

It was sort of cool to think of how excited they were for me, but it was almost scary too. _Twenty-three kids just died and they're all cheering!_ The thought made me shudder. _How could they be so happy about that?_

Voltaire looked at me disappointingly. I guess he wanted me to respond to the crowd somehow, maybe interact with them. But I just sort of stood there, hands clenched in fists at my side. Voltaire eventually took hold of my fist and led me back inside.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, showing concern at my apathy towards the crowd.

I answered truthfully: "No."

Voltaire shot me a weird look before leading me down a hallway. "Maybe seeing some familiar faces will put you in a better state of mind," Voltaire said, more to himself than to me. He opened up another door where Byron, Mags, and most importantly, Finnick all stood waiting.

Voltaire closed the door behind it, leaving the four of us. Finnick was glowing, Mags was smiling, and Byron was spazzing out. "We have so much to talk about!" he shouted gleefully. He began to bombard me with questions about the Hunger Games and what we were going to do to celebrate. I basically just stood there, slightly scared as he continued to ramble about different events that had either happened or were going to happen.

"Ok, that's enough," Mags said, stepping forward and pulling Byron away from me. "But…" Byron uttered as Mags dragged him away, "We have so much to talk about…"

Mags, surprisingly strong for her age, dragged him into a nearby room by his shirt collar and closed and locked the door behind them. That just left Finnick and me.

He rushed up to me and hugged me tightly, and I began to cry into his shoulder. "I missed you…" he whispered as I continued to cry. He sobbed a bit too and I could tell that he was just emotional as I was.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," I admitted, managing to stop the tears. Finnick responded by holding me closer, which I didn't think was possible.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

I didn't even think about it. I just said. And it felt so natural, so right; that I knew in that moment what I felt for Finnick was love. I can't describe what it feels like, but I know that I felt it. I never wanted to be away from him ever again. It was more than just attachment. I needed him there with me. Looking back, I wasn't sure how I managed a week without him. It was probably all the adrenaline from almost getting killed several times…

Byron burst out of the room and Finnick and I quickly separated, both of us smiling at each other.

"So, where were we?" said Byron, walking over to me, about to continue a conversation that I wasn't too eager to be a part of. Byron opened his mouth to talk but the door opened and Voltaire stepped in. "Time to get Annie ready for the post-Game events!" Perfect timing.

One of the first things I had to get over with was the interview with Caesar. More than anything, I wanted to go back to District Four and spend time with Finnick. I didn't want to have to take part in any of the celebrations, but apparently it was mandatory. I'd been given a shimmery orange dress to wear for the occasion.

"First of all, congratulations to you on your thrilling victory," Caesar started off.

"Thank you," I replied softly. I felt uncomfortable on stage. Everybody was watching me excitedly even though I knew they shouldn't have been. _Why were they so damn happy about this! Hadn't they seen some of the things that had happened in the arena! Some of the things I'd done!_

"You were nowhere close to being the favorite going into these games. Let's start there. What's it like going into that arena as an underdog? What pushed you to overcome those odds?"

"It's scary," I meekly replied, "But I made a promise to someone close that I wouldn't give it up."

The crowd ooo'ed in anticipation, assuming that "someone close" meant a romantic interest. "And who might this person be?" asked Caesar.

I paused, not sure exactly how to reply. "My brother…" I said, thinking of the only other person I talked to before the Games. The crowd seemed disappointed.

"You didn't exactly have a great start in the Games, either," Caesar continued, "As we all know, this was one of the bloodiest openings ever, but you almost didn't make it out. You froze up at the beginning and when you finally did begin to run and started to climb out, Stark nearly killed you with an arrow! What was that like?"

Flashbacks of the bloodbath ran through my head: the Careers mercilessly murdering every tribute in sight, Amalie shooting at any tribute who tried to climb up the wall, Stark nearly killing me…

"Yeah…" I muttered. Caesar waited for more, but nothing ever came. I had zoned out, completely absorbed in my own horrible memories. Finnick was watching me from backstage, clearly concerned.

"But you'd get Stark back later!" Caesar chirped, picking up where he had left off. "You may not be aware," he said to me, "But that was one of the most shocking moments of television we have ever witnessed. The Capitol citizens voted, and that was the winner for Best Kill by far! We actually have the video with us. Do you want to see it?"

I snapped out of my dazed state and looked at him with fear in my eyes. The last thing I wanted was to relive that moment. But Caesar wasn't looking at me, he was looking into the crowd, and everybody in the crowd was cheering for the video to be played. And Caesar gave the crowd what they wanted.

The video began to play on the screen and I turned my head away. "What's the matter Annie? Don't you want to watch your proudest moment?" Caesar asked. _Proudest moment! Was he fucking kidding!_ He put his hand on my shoulder and the contact made me tense up immediately. I angrily swatted it away and he looked at me like he offended.

The crowd began to cheer as the video continued to play. I was able to avoid seeing it, but I could hear it, and that was providing my memory with everything it needed to force me to live that horrible moment. I could see myself stabbing Stark; I could feel the pain in my body at the memory. But worst of all, I could hear the Capitol citizens cheering their heads off at the sight of it all.

"SHUT UP!"

I was standing in front of a now speechless crowd, breathing heavily, fists clenched. The video finally shut off and seconds continued to pass as I stared out into the audience angrily. I could see a look of fear in their faces at my sudden reaction to their cheering. But they weren't aware that they had caused it.

"Annie…" Caesar whispered, approaching me. "NO!" I shouted, staggering backwards, "Stay away from me."

"What's the matter?" a small voice chirped from the front row of the audience. I looked and saw a little Capitol girl staring up at me with fear in her eyes. She had gotten her hair done in a style similar to mine and was wearing a replica of my arena uniform. The innocence in her expression indicated that she truly didn't know.

I stared at her as if she were crazy. _Couldn't she tell! Was it only obvious to me! Were they all just insane! Or am I crazy?_

I took a few steps back and stared into the crowd, dumbstruck. They truly didn't see anything wrong with what was happening. They didn't see anything wrong with cheering over the death of a child. They didn't see anything wrong with their behavior. To them, the only thing that seemed wrong…was the way I was behaving.

I staggered backwards a bit before stumbling offstage. I nearly collapsed into Finnick's arms, and he carried me past a curious crowd of backstage crew workers into a supply room.

Finnick just stroked my hair as I shook in his arms. "What's wrong with me…?" I asked, stuttering,

"Annie, nothing's wrong with you," Finnick soothed.

"Then why am I acting like this?"

"Because you're still recovering from everything that's happened. You just need to learn to accept everything that's happened and move on."

"But this isn't how it should be…"

"But that's how it is."

I wasn't shaking anymore, and I pulled myself away from Finnick.

"Am I crazy?" I asked him, "For thinking that thing's should be different. For acting the way I did out there."

"Everything you did was completely justified," he promised me.

I let myself fall back into his arms and I eventually fell asleep as he continued to stroke my hair.

Finnick managed to allow me to go back to District Four sooner than the Capitol officials had wanted.

Finnick had told Voltaire that I was experiencing mental problems due to the traumatic events I experienced and my concussion. Voltaire and President Snow had allowed me to go home.

But because of the interview, everybody soon thought that I had developed PTSD, though that wasn't too far from the truth.

As the train Finnick and I were in pulled into District Four's station, a thought that I had been neglecting reentered my mind: Allie. I still had no idea what had happened to her.

Finnick had mentioned earlier that Andrew would be waiting for me at the station, so as soon as the train stopped I burst out of the car, quickly finding Andrew.

It was the first time I had seen Andrew since our brief encounter in the Capitol. At that time, searchers still hadn't found Allie's body. He was standing before me with an expression that was a mix of happiness and grief.

"What happened to Allie?" I asked him slowly.

His expression changed so that it was completely grief.

"She's…"

**A/N: Aren't I horrible? :P**

**You guys have to deal with that cliffhanger for a while, because I have no idea when the next chapter will be posted (probably within a week). Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Review!**

**Unrelated note: I'm in Munich, and it's amazing. We visited Salzburg today, and it's pretty awesome too. :D**


	17. XVII Normalcy

**A/N: I'm sorry for the late update, but I haven't had nearly as much free time as I thought I would. Next week I should be free to do a ton of writing though. So expect a lot of chapters next week! This will probably be the only chapter for this week. I could quickly churn a few out, but I'm going for quality over quantity so I'm taking my time when I write.**

**Thanks to dogalena, , and mbschwall24 for reviewing!**

"She's alive."

I could finally breathe again after those two words. _How long had I been holding my breath!_

"But…"

"But what!" I practically shouted at Andrew.

"She's in a coma."

I sort of stood there for a few seconds, not entirely sure how to digest the information. Allie was alive, but she wasn't awake. For all I knew, she might never wake up, and she might as well have been dead anyway. Sensing my uneasiness, Finnick came up from behind me and wrapped me in his arms. I melted. Just his presence made even the worse times better.

Andrew looked at us both curiously with one eyebrow raised. Then I remembered that he (like the rest of the world) had no idea what had happened between Finnick and I.

"I can explain…" I began. "It's okay," Andrew cut me off, "It can wait until later."

Finnick's arms were around my torso and I slid my arms around his waist, returning the hug. "Awww, aren't you two cute," cooed Andrew.

I smiled and broke away from Finnick, who seemed a tad disappointed at the loss of contact. Compensating, I reached out and his took hold of his hand. Finnick's smile was larger than I'd ever seen it.

"Would you like to see her?" asked Andrew. Finnick looked over at me with concern but I nodded to Andrew. "Yes," I replied. Finnick squeezed my hand lightly for support and we both followed Andrew to the District Four hospital.

The hospital was a lot bigger than it had been when I had left. Before it was just a lobby and a few examination rooms, but with the disaster it had been renovated into a much larger complex with better equipment and technology. The Capitol had intervened, no doubt.

"She's in room 218," Andrew told us, before leaving to an undisclosed location, leaving Finnick and I to find the room.

The hospital was crowded, and people kept staring at me happily. With the tragedy only a few weeks behind them, it was probably nice for them to see something good happen to District Four. But the looks made me uneasy and reminded me of how much I hated the idea of being celebrated for winning a contest so brutal. Finnick and I didn't hold hands either. We both sort of knew that any extra attention to ourselves would just completely overdo it. But he did make sure our fingers brushed every now and then as we walked.

After asking a friendly nurse, we finally found room 218. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door.

But the room was mostly empty. There were four hospital beds, two on each side of the room, with a curtain drawn to separate them. But the two beds I could see didn't have anybody in them. And the room was void of any type of medical staff. The heart monitors and the other technology next to the two beds I could see were all off as well.

But then I heard it, a small humming sound from the corner of the room, indicating something electronic was still on. Slowly, I walked past the two beds so I could see the other two beds previously concealed by the curtains, Finnick remaining in the doorway. The second bed on the right was empty, but the bed on the left wasn't.

The heart monitor was the source of the humming sound, and it provided a flat heart line, indicating that whoever lay in the bed was no longer living. The body on the bed was covered with a pale blue blanket. My face turned white as I walked towards the front of the bed.

_Please don't be Allie, please don't be Allie…_I thought.

Reaching out my hand, I gripped the blanket just above the head of the body. Taking one last deep breath and closing my eyes, I wrenched the blanket back, sending the entire sheet off of the bed and onto the floor.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. It was a girl. And the girl had perfect blonde hair. But it wasn't Allie. Her face was too long, and her lips were far too plump. Leaning back against the wall, I sank to the ground in relief. Allie wasn't dead. _But if she isn't there, where the hell is she?_ I thought.

Finnick walked over and sat by my side. He didn't say anything; he just wrapped me in with his right arm and rubbed my shoulder, speaking more than words possibly could. His presence and warmth was calming, but I couldn't be calm, I didn't know where Allie was.

Breaking from his embrace again, I stood up and examined the room. The other three beds were empty, but on the bed across from the dead girl, I spotted something I missed before. There was still a sizable imprint left in the bed that was missing from the other two vacant beds. Someone had been in that bed recently.

"Did she wake up recently?" I thought aloud. Finnick followed my gaze and seemed to connect the dots. As he stood up, I started to leave, but stopped when I got to the door. I turned back and rejoined Finnick in the back of the room, momentarily perplexing him. Picking up the blanket off of the floor, I recovered the dead girl's body and turned off the heart monitor. Finnick smiled lightly at me as we left the room together.

"Annie!" I heard Allie's familiar voice call to me when we stepped outside of the room together. I suddenly became incredibly alert and turned to my left to see Allie in nothing but a hospital gown, running clumsily towards me.

"Stop!" a few concerned doctors yelled from behind her. Allie practically ran into me and fell drowsily into my arms. "Annie…" she muttered, "So good…to see…you"

She was in a rather somnambulating state and just seemed really out of it. Nevertheless, I pulled her slouched body into a hug and she was smiling. The doctors behind her finally caught up to her and pulled her off of me.

"I'm sorry," one of them said to me, "But she's only just recently woken from a coma and it's not a great idea for her to be too physically active. She still needs lots of rest, along with food and water."

Despite Allie's drowsy protests, the doctors forced her back into her room. With encouragement from me, she finally stopped struggling and allowed herself to be placed onto her hospital bed by the doctors. In the short time we had been out of the room, the hospital bed with the dead girl had been taken away. Allie almost immediately fell asleep.

"Will she go back into a coma?" I asked the doctor next to me. "It's not highly probable," she said, "But unfortunately, it is a possibility. Albeit, not a big one."

"What happened to her?" I asked. Sort of a dumb question, but I needed to know the details. "She was put into a comatose state by a traumatic head injury, most likely caused by the collapsing marble ceiling of the marketplace. It's a miracle that she was still alive when we found her. She was in a coma for days, trapped under large amounts of heavy marble and still managed to survive. Right now, she needs a bit more rest. When she wakes up again, she'll be acting normal. We think the damage to her head isn't too bad. It's highly unlikely she'll slip into another coma."

The doctor's words calmed me down a bit. _She better wake up again._

"But for now, you should probably just go enjoy your new home," the doctor continued, referring to the new mansion that I had completely forgotten about. "We'll send someone when she wakes up again."

Finnick and I walked through the mostly empty streets of District Four to Victor's Village, hand in hand. We were delighted to discover that my house was right next to his. It was a luxurious, white, three-story house, bigger than any other house outside of the Victor's Village.

"Byron gave me your key," Finnick said, producing a golden key from his pocket and handing it to me. When we reached the large mahogany door, I entered the key into the lock and slowly turned it open.

The house was incredible. The front room was marked by a giant crystal chandelier and a grand double staircase that led to the second floor. Behind the staircase was the entrance into the dining room. The walls were painted an elegant shade of green and the dark wood of the table went with the paint nicely. The table extended across the length of the room and could hold eight people, more places than I would probably ever need. To the left of the dining room was the kitchen, equipped with lots of fancy cooking equipment that I had only ever seen before in the Capitol. The windows in the kitchen and the dining room also displayed a large backyard, which ended at a magnificent lake.

In the corner of the house, in between the kitchen and the front room was a study. The walls were painted a deep shade of red and a large, cushy looking crimson chair sat in front of a mahogany desk. Several half-filled bookcases lined the walls of the study, and a small reading chair sat in the corner, with a nightstand and a lamp next to it.

In the other front corner of the house, between the front room and half of the dining room, was a large living room. It was large and open, with a massive fireplace defining the room. A large television was propped up above the fireplace, and two couches were placed in front of the fireplace, with a small coffee table placed in front of the couches.

The left side of the second story was a large lounge. You could do almost anything in that room. There was a pool table, a Ping-Pong table, a pinball machine, a dart board, but also several bookcases lining the walls and even a bar. There were also three couches to lounge on. The rest of the second story featured two small bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The entire third story of the house was the master bedroom. The back of the room featured the largest bed I've ever seen, dominating the room and facing the back of the house, straight out onto the balcony. The balcony faced overlooked the backyard and the lake, which meant that every morning I would get to wake up to the sight of that view. It was perfect.

"Do you like it?" Finnick asked me, having not said a word the entire time I explored the house.

"Is that even a question?" I scoffed, "I love it!"

"I thought you loved me?" Finnick joked.

"I do," I replied, suddenly becoming serious, "I love you so much, Finnick."

"And I love you too." Finnick said, pecking me quickly on the lips, "Please don't ever forget that, ever."

I kissed him again, but this time we got slightly more carried away, eventually ending up on the bed. After we were done kissing, I cuddled up next to him on my enormous bed as we watched the sun set over the lake.

"Just like old times," Finnick said. "Yeah," I breathed, staying in Finnick's arms until I fell asleep.

The next day, Finnick had to leave for the Capitol. The Capitol didn't have much use for me, considering their population thought I had PTSD. But Finnick, even several years after he won, was still one of the most popular Victors ever and was constantly being called upon to do "favors". I had asked him not to go, but he explained that the consequences of not going were brutal, and he had no choice.

Andrew had told me that Allie had woken up again, but told me not to go visit despite my pleas. Apparently, she and he had something they wanted to talk to me about together, so Andrew had said they would visit later.

It was around lunchtime (an hour after Allie had woken up again) that I heard the doorbell to my house ring. Opening the door, I was happily greeted by Andrew and Allie. "Allie!" I screamed, both of us immediately hugging each other. Allie, Andrew, and I spent the next hour or so just being really happy to see each other. Andrew talked about what had happened during in District Four while I was gone, but it wasn't really stuff I wanted to hear. We didn't talk about our parents or Alan either. That would ruin our happiness and just sort of seemed like something we all needed to deal with on our own. Andrew and I had sort of dealt with it, but Allie had probably only learned about their deaths recently. She didn't seem too sad, but she was probably just trying to focus on the positives of having Andrew alive, and having me survive both the collapse of the building and the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games was also a topic I immediately declared off limits. Andrew already had a pretty good feel of what I had experienced and where my emotions were, but I just told Allie to watch the replays if she wanted to know what happened and how I felt about it. She knew me well enough that she could interpret my emotions from just the video, I was sure.

"So what about this boy?" Allie asked suddenly.

"How do you know already?" I asked her.

"I may have been completely listless, but you can't not recognize Finnick Odair. Especially when he's staring lovingly at your sister."

I blushed a bit at the comment.

"So how serious is it?" asked Andrew this time, "Even I'm curious."

"I'm in love with him," I said honestly.

"D'awwwwww!" Allie cooed, hugging me. Andrew just sat there rather stoically.

Allie saw Andrew's expression and hit him in the arm. "C'mon! Be happy for her!"

"I don't know… it's just…are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive." I stated firmly.

"Okay," Andrew said, "I don't really know him, but if he makes you happy then I'm happy."

Allie and I both smiled.

"But…" he continued, "I'm keeping an eye on him. Some of the things I've heard about him aren't that great. He doesn't seem like you're type. But I'll try to get to know him better."

"Thank you," I replied.

And with that, we spent the rest of the day together, sort of feeling like a family again. The last month was awful, but most of the issues in my life were finally being resolved. And some pretty good things came out of it too. I was finally beginning to feel like things might finally begin to go back to normal. Or at least, as close to normal as possible.

**A/N: Sorry for the sort of rushed ending…Oh well. The next few chapters are going to be a bit slower in pace, but don't worry, this story is still going places. Please review!**


	18. XVIII Approval

**A/N: I'm so incredibly sorry for the long wait! Thanks to dogalena, two anonymous guests, and InSaNeAnNiE for reviewing!**

**This chapter is basically filler, not much happens.**

It didn't take long for Allie to become accepting of my relationship with Finnick. Allie didn't have too many qualms to begin with, but it took a little more time for Andrew to get over his apprehensiveness towards Finnick.

Andrew was mainly worried about Finnick's reputation, which unfortunately preceded him.

But Allie came up with the perfect solution with the perfect solution. She set Andrew and Finnick up on a little "date" so that Andrew could get to know Finnick better. Andrew didn't like Allie's choice of words very much, but we made him go through with it anyway.

So Finnick left my side for the first time in days and hung out with Andrew at an undisclosed location. Andrew didn't return home until midnight.

"So how was your _date_ with Finnick?" giggled Allie, emphasizing the one word she knew would make him mad.

"It wasn't a _date_," Andrew insisted, "We were just getting to know each other better."

"Sure. Whatever you say," teased Allie, "Did you guys hold hands?"

Andrew visibly fumed and Allie burst into laughter.

"They better not have held hands," I muttered to myself.

Allie regained control over herself and sat down on one of the chairs in the living room. "But really, how did the date go?"

"Keep calling it a date and I won't tell you anything."

"Fine," Allie sighed, rolling her eyes, "How did your totally platonic meeting with Finnick go?"

Andrew broke eye contact with Allie to look over at me, "He's actually a really cool dude."

I smiled brightly with glee, happy to have my older brother's approval. "Where is he anyway?" asked Allie. Suddenly a knock came from the door.

"Probably right out front," Andrew grinned.

I ran to the door and swung it open to reveal Finnick, who I happily greeted in a hug. "Annie…" he breathed happily as he returned the hug warmly.

"I would've come back with Andrew," said Finnick, pulling back so he could look at me, "But I had to stop at my house briefly."

"Hi Finnick!" called Allie from the living room. Finnick smiled and waved to both Allie and Andrew.

"So did you enjoy the date as much as Andrew did?" asked Allie. Andrew shot her a glare. Finnick looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "Date?"

I giggled, "According to Allie that's what it was."

Finnick chuckled a little. "She's wrong though," he said, "There's only one person in this house I'd ever go on a date with."

I blushed a little at Finnick's remark. I still was used to receiving compliments like that from him, but I loved getting them regardless.

"Awww," sighed Allie from the living room. Finnick and I both looked over at her. "We are still in earshot you know," said Allie.

"Well, maybe we should give them a bit more privacy," suggested Andrew, who smiled at me with a look of understanding. Allie pouted a little before reluctantly pulling herself out of the chair she was in. "I'm getting pretty tired anyway," she grumbled.

"I'm going to go to bed!" she called to us, "Don't stay up too late!"

She then followed Andrew upstairs, leaving Finnick and I alone on the bottom floor.

"Your sister's a bit weird," Finnick laughed. "Yeah…" I agreed.

"But she's nice though," he said.

"And Andrew?" I pushed, wanting to know how their evening went.

"He's awesome," replied Finnick, "I don't think I've met anyone smarter than him in my life!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, happy that my boyfriend and my older brother had gotten along.

"Were you worried that we wouldn't?" Finnick asked.

"Yeah," I told him, "He was a bit unsure about our relationship when I first told him about it, so I'm glad he approves of you now."

"Well, I'm glad he does," Finnick said, quickly pecking me on the lips.

I wanted a bit more than that though, so I reached up and pulled his head back down until his lips met mine again and held him there. But just as the kiss was beginning to deepen, a loud and obnoxious "Awwwwwwww" caused us to pull away.

"Allie!" I yelled. She was standing at the edge of the staircase with her hand held over her mouth.

"What!" she asked defensively, "I was coming down to get a drink. It's not my fault you guys can't keep yourselves off of each other. At least do it in your bedroom where you have some privacy!" She rolled her eyes, and then chuckled before going into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Maybe we should go up to our bedroom," Finnick said. I sighed unhappily. Finnick chuckled mischievously, "But we don't have to sleep if you don't want to…"

**A/N: Okay, that was really short, but at least it was something. And the next chapter will actually move the plot a bit more. **

**To anyone who's reading this, thank you for sticking with the story for so long despite my inability to consistently update this story in a timely manner. And please review!**


	19. XIX Anniversary

**A/N: I'm so untimely…**

**Thanks to Srawberrygirl and annie cresta the mad girl for reviewing! This is now my most reviewed story!**

It had been almost a year since Finnick and I had begun dating (we counted our make out session in a back room after my interview with Caesar the beginning of our relationship) and I wanted to do something special for it. Finnick, however, being the gentleman that he is, wanted to make all the plans himself. He wanted to completely surprise me and make the night amazing for me. But I wanted to be part of it too. I wanted to contribute and help commemorate our anniversary and be a part of making the day special.

But Finnick was being stubborn about this.

So, instead, I was going behind his back to do something for our anniversary. He had planned most our evening, so I couldn't plan anything that would take time out of the day, but I could still get him a gift.

So that's why, two days before our anniversary, I was going to the house of an old family friend. The lady I was visiting was a sweet old woman named Patricia Tulip. Her husband was rather well off, which meant that she didn't need to work for a living like most of the others in District Four. She also had a seventeen year old daughter named Maggie, but since Maggie was quickly approaching adulthood Patricia had found very little to do in her spare time and often found herself bored.

So Patricia had taken up a hobby that her mother had passed on to her when she was a child. She crafted jewelry. Of course, there were already two jewelers in town, and Patricia didn't really do anything to advertise herself, but Patricia made jewelry more for the joy of it than the money she occasionally made from it. She sometimes even seemed rather sad when she made a sale, losing a lovely item that she had spent so much time crafting just for money that she didn't really need.

But when her husband died in the Marketplace collapse, making money became a bit more of a priority. Of course, Patricia had been left an ample sum of cash from her deceased husband, but she needed the extra money on the side if she wanted to continue to live the lifestyle she had been living before her husband's death.

Lucky for her, her jewelry was by far the best in the district. And while she still wasn't known by the majority of District Four citizens looking to purchase jewelry, the people that knew her only went to her for business. My mother had bought an absolutely stunning necklace from her a few years ago, so I figured that she would be the perfect person to try to buy a gift for Finnick from.

"Why, if it isn't Annie Cresta!" Patricia chirped happily when I was allowed into her house, "I don't believe I've seen you in one or two years! Not since the unfortunate set of circumstances that occurred at least." Two different sets of unfortunate circumstances crossed my mind, but I wasn't sure which one she was referring to. But since they both happened at around the same time and got the gist of what she was saying, I let it go.

"Now what can I do for you?" she asked, after leading me into the room where she kept her collection of crafts, correctly assuming I was there to purchase something from her.

"I'm here to get a gift for my boyfriend," I explained to her, "Our one year anniversary is in a couple of days."

"Oh, how exciting! Young love…" she sighed happily, looking as if she were blissfully reliving a memory from her past, "I'm still waiting for Maggie to fall in love. But boy, she's stubborn about it! None of the guys she meets seem to cut it for her! But I'm off topic!"

She led me into the corner of the room, "I'm assuming your boyfriend isn't incredibly interested in silver earrings or flashy pearl necklaces, so here's what I have for guys!"

Her collection of men's jewelry was rather light. She only had a few bracelets and a necklace or to.

"I was actually hoping to get promise rings," I told her, "Something that we could both wear."

She looked at me thoughtfully before resting her hand under her chin. She was clearly thinking critically about something, as if she were having a debate inside her head. But then her eyes snapped upwards, she had discovered a solution to her dilemma.

"Tell me Annie," she said in the most serious voice she could muster, "And be absolutely honest with me. How strong are your feelings for this boy?"

I swallowed hard; I didn't understand why exactly she was being so inquisitive. But if I was to be completely honest…

"There's absolutely no one else out there for me," I said, "He's the only one who can make me feel the way I do. I'm completely head-over-heels in love with him. If I lost him, I'm not even sure if I would have the strength to carry on because nothing could possibly fill my heart the same way he does. And there aren't even words strong enough to describe how perfect he is…" I might've been going on about my feeling for too long, but Patricia was smiling at me and it felt good to be able to describe my feelings for Finnick in such depth, so I continued, "…Yet somehow he sees me in the exact same way that I see him. He's my everything. And that may sound corny, but I don't care because it's true. I'm so deeply, madly in love with him."

Patricia was smiling. "Okay, that does it."

Then, she turned and quickly left the room. At first I was stunned, having no clue why she just left me in her jewelry room alone after having me spill my heart out to her, but she soon returned with two black boxes in her hand. She opened one of them up to reveal the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen in my life.

The band was silver, and crested in a perfect circle on the ring was a marvelous gemstone that shone wonderful shades of blue and green. There was a thin black lining around the gem, and the dark purple velvet that lined the inside of the box made the colors of the gem pop out even more.

"It's called opal," Patricia explained, "It's one of the hardest gems to find now, very few people in the Capitol can even say that they've seen opal! But somehow my husband owns some land with opal deposits. Of course, it's rather hard to separate from the rest of the rock, but…Oh! You don't care about that!"

"How much does it cost?" I inquired. It didn't even matter how much it cost, these were the promise rings I wanted.

"For you, they're free."

"What!" I gasped as she placed the two boxes in my hands.

"You see Annie, I only give these to people who truly love each other. This ring, to me, is too valuable to give away to any person on the street who happens to have a lot of cash. I actually first made these rings while I was mourning my husband…" She stopped speaking, and I could see that these rings held a lot of sentimental value to her, "I only made five pairs of these, and I've only ever given away one before now. In memory of the love that my husband and I shared, I only give these to people who I feel share a connection just as strong, if not stronger. And I could tell just from the look in your eyes as you described your boyfriend that that love was there. I don't know who he is, but I know that you two will love a long and happy life together."

I was speechless; I didn't even know what to say. But then I realized there was only one thing to say. "Thank you."

Tears were welling in her eyes as she stood with hands clasped together in front of her as I took the boxes and carefully placed them in my pocket.

"I hope your anniversary is an amazing day for both of you," she said quietly as she escorted me to the door. She waved happily to me as I left, quietly closing the door behind me.

When I got back to my house, I took a few more seconds to marvel at the beauty of the rings I had been given. They were so carefully crafted, so elegantly made, so effortlessly beautiful…

"What's that?" I suddenly heard from behind me. I quickly shut the case and whirled around, boxes held behind my back, as I faced Finnick.

"Where did you come from?" I gasped, not over the fright of him almost seeing my surprise gift for him.

"I just wanted to stop by and spend some time with you," he said, confused by my shocked expression at seeing him in my house. He did drop by all the time; it wasn't unusual by any means.

"So what's that?" he asked, obviously talking about what I had hidden behind my back.

"Nothing," I lied, coyly slipping the rings into my back pockets, one in each.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it. But I guess he decided to let it slide since he didn't push me further. "I'm going to use the bathroom real quick," he said. He walked down the hallway into the bathroom, giving me just enough time to sprint up to my room and hide the rings under my bed before he reemerged.

Two days later, it was our anniversary and Allie had me dressed up in a flowing lavender dress. "He's here!" she called, looking out the window in my room. A few seconds later, the doorbell to the house rang. Allie ran downstairs and I quickly found the two rings I had acquired and put them in my purse. I never really carried a purse before. But I needed one now since my dress didn't have pockets.

"Hurry up Annie!" Allie shouted as I made my way down the stairs. I walked into the main living room and was greeted by Finnick, who looked as dashing as ever in an expensive looking tuxedo.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"You're beautiful," he muttered as his eyes met mine. I giggled lightly.

"Thanks, but that didn't really answer my question."

"What was your question?" he asked, "I'm sorry, I must've been distracted."

"What's the plan for this evening?"

"That's a surprise!" he laughed as he took my hand and led me out of the house.

He led me through the district and it didn't take me long to figure out where we were going. I honestly shouldn't have been too surprised. We were going to the hill where Finnick and I had spent so much of our time over the past year.

But when we got to the top of the hill, there was nothing there. And Finnick didn't have a picnic basket in his hand. I looked at him quizzically, but he just smiled and continued to walk over the hill. Still confused, I followed him.

"You must've forgotten about it considering everything that's happened," he said as he led me down the hill, "But I found it while planning this evening and Allie told me where it was from."

His explanation wasn't really helping me out much. I still had no clue where we were going.

"How could you forget about the present Allie and Andrew made for your birthday?"

It was then I saw the canoe that Allie and Andrew had made for me over a year ago, and I suddenly felt like a complete jerk for never using. It probably took them a long time to build, and I had basically forgotten about it. But then I remembered Allie's quip when she first showed it to me: "And there's enough room for Finnick and a picnic basket."

And as it turned out, there was even more room than that, because there were also a few candles in the canoe. I took Finnick's hand as he helped me into the canoe. I sat down and Finnick pushed the boat out into the water before climbing in himself.

Finnick rowed us out into the middle of the lake, and the evening couldn't have been more perfect. Our location allowed us a completely unobstructed view of the night sky, and I was amazed by how clearly we could see the stars above us. The dinner Finnick had prepared was a step above our normal fare. Instead of sandwiches, we dined on well cooked chicken as well as corn and some of the best bread I ever had. Everything was perfect, I just needed to capitalize and give him the rings.

"Annie," he said just as I was about to reach down to my purse. He took my hand in his. "I just want you to know, that there aren't enough words to accurately describe how I feel about you, so I'll just say this: There is not one person in this world I would have rather spent the last year in my life with. I love you. And I hope that I'll get to spend the rest of my years with you, just like this."

He kissed my hand as he finished speaking. I wasn't going to get a moment better than this, so I quickly reached down into my purse and grabbed the two boxes. He looked down and was about to take something from the picnic basket when I spoke up.

"Finnick," I breathed, suddenly a little nervous, "I love you too. And I just want to let you know how much I mean that, and for you to know how much you mean to me."

I presented him with the boxes and his mouth dropped a little. "So I got us these," I said as I opened them, "They're promise rings." He slowly moved his hand forward and took one of the rings in his hand. I could see tears in his eyes.

"I told you I could plan part of this evening and make it great, too" I chuckled a bit, recalling how Finnick had wanted to plan the entire evening by himself. Finnick laughed a little. He then put the ring back in the box before reaching into the picnic basket. "This evening was perfect," I thought, "And my rings just put it over the top!" I felt proud of my gift.

But what Finnick pulled out of the box took me completely by surprise: the exact same pair of opal promise rings.

"Whe-…What?" I stammered.

Finnick laughed. And then I remember what Patricia had said, how she had given away one other pair of rings. That person had to have been Finnick. "We both have really good taste," he smiled. He took my hand and put one of his rings on my finger, and I took his hand and put one of my rings on his finger.

"Maybe I could've just let Finnick plan this evening," I thought.

We each kept our extra ring and put it up in our bedrooms, both in the exact same spot above the door, where we could both see it when we woke up every morning.

But unfortunately, Finnick was forced to deliver some bad news the next day.

"I would've told you this yesterday, but I didn't want to ruin the mood," I could tell by his expression that it was bad news as he spoke to me in my bedroom.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Hunger Games are coming up soon," he said. "Yeah, I know," I replied, "Why is that important though? It's not like I can get reaped again. I don't ever want to relive that hell."

Finnick sighed sadly, "No, you can't get reaped. But you can't exactly avoid that hell. You did win last year…"

I gulped, preparing for the worst.

"Which means you have to mentor this year."

**A/N: Promise rings are a bit cheesy. But I like cheese (especially gruyere). Sorry for my untimeliness, but chapters will probably only come every week or so. **


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